Our Forever
by clr.kitsune
Summary: Eventual reunion fic, lots of characters and featuring Eleven and Rose, but definitely addressing River's place in the Doctor's timeline as well. Set in season 6 for the most part. I suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note- Ok, this starts with season 6, but jumps around quite a bit, hopefully coming together cohesively. :) This story is ultimately Doctor/Rose, but it has River's place secure as well. Lots of timey-wimeyness. I am most likely going to prove to be a somewhat erratic poster, but it should move pretty quickly.**

**I don't own Doctor Who. Obviously.**

**Enjoy.**

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><p>Rory looked at his wife with no small amount of skepticism. She ignored him and kept on with the story she was reading. Where she had even found a history book that contained vague references to the Doctor was beyond him. He turned his attention back to the telly and smiled slightly at her indignant huff. She did hate these old slap stick comedies. Honestly he had to admit to himself that part of his enjoyment of them came from how much it annoyed her.<p>

She flounced off to the door to accept the mail from the postman and came back flipping through it, neither of them noticing the man they had been discussing waving to them from the screen, wearing a ridiculous fez. He noticed a strangely stamped envelope that seemed to have drawn her interest and quirked an eyebrow at her excited expression. "What is it?"

"Date, time, coordinates. I think it's an invitation." She answered, her smile widening.

"Who from?" Rory had to ask; even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

She tossed it to him, "It isn't signed. But look, TARDIS blue." Rory held in a slight sigh. Looked like they were going on a trip.

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><p>When River opened the blue envelope she felt a shiver run through her, that familiar thrill that the promise of adventure always gave her. She tapped it against her palm for a moment before she moved into action, smiling with no small amount of sadistic pleasure as the guards started scurrying around when they realized she was packing.<p>

America… She hadn't been there in quite some time.

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><p>Amy and Rory gratefully stepped off the school bus that had driven them out to the middle of nowhere. Apparently Rory and the man driving it striking up a friendship while discussing Roman history had made him willing to break some rules to give them a ride. They waved goodbye, promising to get in contact again sometime and stood for a moment taking in the desolate scene around them.<p>

Amy chose to state the obvious. "So we're here then."

"Yup." Rory answered. "Middle of nowhere."

From behind them, they heard a voice say "Howdy." And turned to see the Doctor reclined on a car that Rory could swear hadn't been there a moment ago. That thought was lost as they were all reunited rather noisily and the Doctor didn't even make a crack about River's gun as she shot his hat off. Just rolled his eyes and made a comment about the safety of his headgear around her. They hugged as well, and he seemed very relaxed and at ease, slightly at odds to his usual behavior around her.

As the Doctor and River compared notes in their journals and Amy and Rory ordered drinks for everyone from the counter of the café they had found, Rory couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going on. A trip to America and odd invitations seemed a little extreme for what seemed to be amounting to a social visit.

Amy and Rory settled into the booth with them and the Doctor smiled widely at Rory, seeming to guess something of what he was thinking. "So. We are here for a bit of an adventure. A picnic, then…" He paused for a moment. "A trip."

Amy smiled widely at him, the childlike wonder of a trip in the TARDIS with her Raggedy Doctor not lost even after all of this time. "Where are we going?"

The Doctor's lips twisted in what Rory would describe as a slightly odd smile. "Somewhere different. Somewhere… brand new."

River spoke up from Rory's side and as he turned to look at her, he thought that she might be feeling the same sense of oddness that he was. "So what have you been up to exactly? We know you've been up to something."

He smiled at River and the expression was a bit tired. "I've been running. Faster than I have ever run. And as you know, I've been running my whole life." He took a breath and seemed to brighten slightly. "It's time to stop. And tonight I am going to need you all with me."

River looked to be about to question him farther when the bell over the door chimed and the Doctor looked towards it as his face broke out in a wide grin. "Wondered if you would show up."

They all turned as one and Rory would swear he heard a slight gasp from River as she saw who was standing in the doorway with a picnic basket. The woman looked to be in her mid twenties and had long light brown hair. Rory had a feeling he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place where. She smiled at the Doctor, but the warmth of the expression seemed to include all four of them as she spoke, "Well, of course Doctor. I said I would come."

She made her way to the table and tossed her invitation on it. Rory noticed that the Doctor made no move to introduce her to the rest of them as he ushered them all from the restaurant and to the car he had parked outside.

Rory held out a hand to the mystery woman, "Hello. I'm Rory."

She smiled slightly as she took his hand and shook it, "Yes. Good to meet you finally. Sort of." He had a moment of deja-vu, again, it was like maybe he had seen her somewhere before but it passed and he shook his head.

He did not fail to notice as she piled in to the car that she hadn't given him her own name. He looked over at River as she waited for him to get in and noticed that she was still looking at the woman with a strange expression on her face and couldn't resist catching her eye with raised brows. River's expression returned to her usual one of knowing amusement as she shrugged and mouthed the word, 'Spoilers'.

Rory rolled his eyes and got in, followed closely by River.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note- My state of ownage hasn't changed since the last chapter. **

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><p>As they settled around on the blanket that the Doctor and the mystery guest had spread on the ground Amy finally asked, "So where are we going then?"<p>

The Doctor looked at her with a grin as he poured wine for everyone and kept the bottle for himself. "Space. 1969."

Rory took a sip of his wine and asked, "What are we going to do there?"

Amy spoke again before the Doctor had a chance to answer, "And since when do you drink wine?"

The woman whom only the Doctor and River seemed to know snorted a laugh and the Doctor drew himself up a bit with the appearance of wounded pride, "Amelia Pond, I am 1103. It is safe to assume I have had wine before." With that he took a drink and sputtered, making a face. The entire group of them burst out laughing at his expression as he carried on. "Eww, wine is horrid. Thought it would taste more like the gums."

Smiling slightly, Amy went on, "1103? You were 908 the last time we saw you."

Still looking slightly disgusted from the wine the Doctor answered slightly testily, "And you've put on a couple of pounds. Wasn't gonna mention it…" He trailed off and seemed to catch a reproving look from the mystery woman. "What, was that rude?"

She smiled slightly, "Yes Doctor. Still rude and still not ginger."

He stuck his lip out in a bit of a pout. "Simply not fair that."

Amy hadn't really heard what they were saying as she spied a figure in the distance. Sensing something sinister about it. She spoke in almost a whisper, "Who's that?"

Rory looked at her with concern. "Who?"

The Doctor watched their exchange carefully as she shook her head. "Sorry, what?"

"You said you saw someone."

Amy shook her head and took a drink. "No I didn't."

The Doctor chose that moment to change the subject. "Look at that moon. Beautiful. Although you humans did a lot more than look at it, didn't you. Brilliant really." His lips twisted in that odd smile again and he said in a voice that seemed to be more to himself than to the rest of them. "Human beings. Never thought I'd be done saving you."

The moment was broken as the woman Rory and Amy didn't know took the bottle from the Doctor and tipped it up, draining it's contents and then staring down at it pensively. The Doctor reached out and touched her hand, drawing her gaze and they stayed that way a moment. Looking into each other's eyes.

The sound of a vehicle pulling up drew the Doctor's attention and he lifted a hand in greeting as a man got out and stood there looking at them. The man returned the wave and Amy looked at the Doctor to question him. "Who is that?" She found the Doctor standing and looking past them all at the lake.

She turned to River as she let out a gasp and spoke in disbelief. "Oh my God…"

Amy turned to see what everyone was looking at and was confused at the bizarre sight of an astronaut standing in the water. She turned back to see the Doctor looking on, his hand in that of the brunette.

He turned and kissed the woman on the forehead and stepped away from her, straightening his bowtie. "You all need to stay back now. Whatever happens, do not interfere. Are we clear?" He cast a look over them all and then stepped away towards the astronaut.

Rory spoke lowly to her from her left, and she felt River standing to her right. He said, "That is an astronaut. An Apollo astronaut. In a lake."

Amy shook her head, trying to wrap her head around the fact that the Doctor was standing there having a conversation with an impossible astronaut of all things. She said with some bewilderment. "What is he doing?" She was about to say more when the astronaut raised a gun and shot.

When Amy was next entirely aware of her surroundings she was being held tightly by the woman she didn't know and Rory had hold of her arm. Tears were falling down her face and she called out again as the Doctor emitted streams of golden light and then was shot again before falling to the ground.

As the astronaut turned and walked back into the water she saw River run past them and felt her arms released as herself and Rory ran forward to join her at the Doctor's side.

He was dead. That was impossible, yet River confirmed it before standing and emptying the gun she carried at the back of the astronaut. Seemingly to no effect.

"But River… He can't be dead."

Looking positively ill, River shook her head, "Whatever that was it killed him in the middle of regeneration. This body was already dead. He didn't make it to the next one."

Amy shook her head and continued to cry, "But maybe he's a clone… Or a duplicate or something."

They all looked up in shock as the forgotten old man stepped towards them and spoke. "I believe I can save you some time. That most certainly is the Doctor. And he is most certainly dead." He sighed and then looked over to the mystery woman and nodded. Apparently he knew who she was too. "He said you would need this." With that he set a gasoline can at her feet and she nodded solemnly.

Rory spoke up again then, "Gasoline?"

River nodded in understanding as the brunette leaned over and picked up the can, hefting it slightly like she was checking it's weight. Rory thought for a moment that there were words on the side of the can, but shook his head as they seemed nonsensical and not there the next time he looked.

River looked at the woman in silence for a moment before speaking. "A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there that would rip this world a part, even for a single cell." She stood then, seeming to try to get a hold on her emotions. "We can't leave him here. Or anywhere."

Amy shook her head and grasped his face, still trying to wake him. Without turning up she said in a defeated voice, "What do we do Rory?"

"We're his friends." River answered in a wooden voice. "We'll do what we always do."

Rory shook his head, not entirely understanding. "And what's that?"

The woman holding the gas can stepped up to the rest of them and finished River's thought. "What we're told. We do what we're told."

Understanding dawning on him, he looked away for a moment and saw a rowboat on the far shore of the pond. "There's a boat. If we're gonna do this, let's do it properly."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note- I still don't own anything.**

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><p>Some time later they all stood, the five of them and watched as the Doctor burned. They stood all apart from each other, each of them keeping their own thoughts as they looked on.<p>

River finally broke the silence, looking over at the old man. "Who are you? Why did you come?"

"Same reason you did." He pulled a familiar blue envelope from his pocket and gave a wry smile. "Doctor Song, Amy, Rory…" He trailed off and smiled at the other woman standing off a little ways. He seemed to be in on the fact that she wasn't to be named. "And you over there. I'm Canton Everett Delaware the third. I won't be seeing you again, but you will be seeing me." With that he picked up his gas can and left them all looking after him.

River suddenly looked up in alarm. "Five."

Rory shook his head, "I'm sorry, what?"

"The envelopes. Five. She got two. You got three. I got four. Canton Everett Delaware there was five." She shook her head and started to speak again when she was interrupted.

The woman that River seemed to know, though neither Rory nor Amy did stepped over to them. "I think it's time for me to go now."

Amy frowned at her, "Hang on, we don't even know who you are."

She smiled weakly. "I'm sorry Amy. The wrong name in the wrong time… Disaster of epic proportions. And… Well… I'm not actually here yet. That's all I can say." She looked over at River and seemed to be waiting for something.

"This isn't right. It's impossible." River was looking at her with a frown on her face.

"And here I am thinking you should be used to impossible things by now sweetie." She smiled slightly and stepped towards her resting a hand on her shoulder. "When he gets really nasty about this, tell him. Two words. You know them. And I know things look bad, but remember what I promised."

River nodded and the woman moved past her to stand a little ways from them. She lifted her arm and pulled back her sleeve, revealing a vortex manipulator. She tapped away at it for a moment before blinking out of existence.

Amy shook her head, "Wait… What just happened?"

Shaking her head River moved to the car and they headed back to town, going to the same café they had all been in earlier. As they entered River and Rory were still discussing the mystery of the envelopes and what it could possibly mean, all of the Doctor's talk of space and 1969.

Amy moved after them woodenly and interrupted in a low voice, "Would you two shut up?"

They kept talking, about who else might have been invited, and Amy said in a louder voice, "You're still talking but it doesn't matter! He's DEAD! So shut up about it!"

Rory looked at her with concern, "Hey, it mattered to HIM."

River finished his thought, "So it matters to US."

Amy leaned against a booth and shook her head as she hissed, "But he's dead!"

Stepping to Amy with an urgent look on her face River spoke, "But he still needs us!" She stopped in front of her and the look on her face was so intense that Amy almost felt the need to avert her eyes. "I know. Amy, I know. But right now we have to focus."

They were so intent on each other that they didn't notice as Rory took a step away from them. His hand brushed River's shoulder as he moved, "Look!"

They turned and saw what he was looking at… it was a table. It was a table with a blue envelope sitting on it. Rory moved to the counter to ask who had been sitting there as River moved to the table and picked up the envelope. He stopped for a moment as his eyes caught on the menu behind the man and he nodded absently to the man's statement about it being some guy. Twice now, those same two words. He shook his head and moved to the others in time to hear River speaking.

"He knew he was going to die. He was going to his death. Who do you call under those circumstances?"

Rory shook his head, "Your friends… Family, people you trust."

River nodded and held up the envelope. "Number one. Who did the Doctor trust the most?"

The door behind her opened with the most ironic timing to reveal the person they least expected to see.

The Doctor.

River was the first to recover. "Oh this is cold. Even by your standards this is COLD."

He apprehensively looked at her and moved his shoulders in a slight shrug, "Or, hello. As some people like to say."

Amy stepped forward slowly, holding a hand out towards him as though she planned to touch and see if he was real. "Doctor?"

The Doctor smiled tightly, "I uh… I just popped out to get my special straw. Gives things more fizz." He turned with Amy as she circled him, mumbling things under her breath about the fact that he was ok and felt his eyebrows rise towards his hairline at her odd behavior. He stopped her, "Hey, of course I'm ok! I'm always ok. I'm the king of ok… Oh that's a rubbish title. Forget that title."

He patted her back and moved in on Rory, trying to lighten the mood as he advanced on the man to hug him, "And Rory the Roman! Now that's a good title! Hello Rory." He let the man go after a brief and mostly unreturned hug and turned to River. Who was still fixing a very unpleasant glare at him.

He got closer to her and decided to try to act with a bit of swagger. "And Doctor River Song. Oh you bad bad girl… What trouble have you got for me this time?" He had learned from being slapped by mothers to move his head freely WITH the slap. Little less jarring that way. Still hurt like hell though. Apparently swagger didn't actually work for him. "Ok… I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."

River nodded, her nostrils flaring slightly as she took enough of a breath to be able to control her voice. "Yes. It is."

The Doctor nodded cautiously. "Good… looking forward to it." He started to turn back to Amy to question her when Rory spoke up.

"Wait, I don't understand." He poked a finger at the Doctor's chest; his face containing the same disbelief Amy's had. "How can you be here?"

Slightly exasperated with humans as a whole right now he nodded his head and spoke a little slowly. "I was invited." He picked up the envelope and held it up. "Date. Time. Map reference. Same as you lot I'm guessing, or it's a hell of a coincidence."

Amy spoke then, to River. Not to him and he frowned. This really was getting ridiculous. Amy asked in a confused and anxious voice, "River, what's happening?"

River was looking more interested now than angry as she answered. "Amy ask him what age he is."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at River, "Well that's a bit personal."

Ignoring his statement River said, "Tell her. Tell her what age you are."

"909." Things broke down pretty quickly then, everyone talking over everyone, finally Rory's statement about Amy understanding broke through, "Well I don't! What are we all doing here?"

River took a step forward, the look on her face apprehensive. "We've been recruited. Something to do with space, 1969, and a man named Canton Everett Delaware the third."

The Doctor took a few steps away from them as she spoke, wondering if a bit of distance would separate him from their seeming hysteria. He spun on his heel to look at them thoughtfully, somehow already knowing the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Recruited. Recruited by who?"

"Someone who trusts you more than anyone else in the universe."

He twisted his lips in an almost smile at the obvious evasion. "And who is that?"

River smiled nervously and answered in what had to be the most uncertain voice he had ever heard her use. "Spoilers."

So he had been right.

Sometimes being right was downright rubbish.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note- So I know this is so far rehashing a lot of the actual show, and hope it doesn't come off too much like a transcript. **

**I still don't own anything.**

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><p>On the TARDIS Amy stood leaning against the railing and trying not to think about the man behind her manically running around and talking about the trip they would be taking. The dead man.<p>

He came in close at one point in his rant and unable to take it anymore she walked away, down the steps for some privacy.

The Doctor did not fail to notice that, or the fact that River followed her after shaking her head and shooting a glare at him. The Doctor paused in his movements and looked at Rory in question, "Rory… Is everybody cross with me for some reason?"

He watched as Rory tried to act like he wasn't sure. Boy really was rubbish at acting. He wondered at that for a moment, the thought that he really seemed to like the word 'rubbish' in this regeneration. Funny how that happened sometimes. Back to the moment he nodded as Rory mumbled something about checking to see and rushed after the women.

He watched the man leave and sighed slightly. It was complicated he thought, this group of companions. With River there was always more going on than he knew about, which was bad enough. But Amy and Rory… He was still unsure of what exactly he was doing with them. A married couple. Awfully domestic, that. And he missed in that moment with an almost physical pain the simplicity of earlier days. When he had people with him who never would have hidden something from him. When he had… No. He didn't really think he wanted to go down that direction. He moved from the screen in front of him, just missing the two words that flashed across it.

He popped his head down and spent a millisecond looking at all the serious faces he was interrupting. He decided then on the way he was going to handle this, in a petulant voice he exclaimed, "I am being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed. What's the point in having you all?" He retreated then, but caught River's statement about slapping him and smiled slightly to himself.

As they joined him he carried on his earlier rant about time. "Time isn't a straight line, it's all bumpy whumpy. There's loads of boring stuff. Like Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons." He pushed a lever then, thinking briefly that he did tend to skip the boring parts. The parts that would give him too much time to think. "But now and then there are Saturdays! Big temporal tipping points and the TARDIS can't resist them. Like a moth to the flame." He slowed down again and moved to stand by River, watching as she tried to smile at him. "She does love a party. So I give her the year, 1969 and the name, Canton Everett Delaware the third, and this," He flicked a switch and the screen popped to life. "This is where she's pointing."

The three who had moved to join him at the screen looked at it and Amy read the date aloud then asked in a voice that was still a little stiff. "Why haven't we landed?"

The Doctor slipped between them and moved away as he spoke, "Because that isn't where we are going."

Rory recovered first, still not able to quite hide the fact that he was hiding something. "But… Where are we going?"

"Home for you two! Off you pop to go make babies." He turned to River and raised an eyebrow, "And you Doctor Song, back to prison." He moved away then, talking as he went to take a seat and see how they would react to this, "And me, I am late for a biplane lesson in 1911. Or knitting. Could have been knitting." He dropped into the chair and put a hand to his forehead, rubbing the slight ache forming there. As they all approached him cautiously he dropped his hand and with it the pretense of manic energy he had been keeping up.

He fixed a serious look at them all in turn. "What? A mysterious summons and you think I'm just going to go?" He looked between them all again. "Who sent those messages? I know you know. I can see it in your faces. Don't play games with me. Don't ever, ever think you are capable of that."

River spoke first and his gaze shot to her as she said, "You are going to have to trust –us- this time."

"Trust you? Sure." He stood and advanced on the woman, massive amounts of his frustration with her leaking into his voice as he continued. "But first of all –Doctor- Song. Just one thing. Who are you? Someone from my future, I'm getting that, but who?" He stared at her then glanced at Amy, noting the concern on her face as he spoke to River this way. "Ok. Why are you in prison? Who did you kill? Hmm?" He leaned in closer, his voice dropping dangerously, "Now I love a bad girl, me, but trust –you-? Seriously?" He continued to look into her face, seeing pain there and something else. That sense of knowing that he was unable to look past.

Their stand off was interrupted as Amy stepped forward. "Trust me."

The urgency in her voice concerned him and he stepped away from River, not failing to notice how the woman sagged in relief. "Ok."

Amy took a step back as he came towards her, some of the intensity from his stand off with River still evident in his face. "You have to do this. And you can't ask why."

The Doctor tilted his head to the side, concern joining the suspicion in his expression. "Are you being threatened? Is someone making you say that?" He listened to her quick negative response. It was too quick. And the fear and worry in her face made him pause. "You're lying."

"No!" Amy's face showed hurt now along with everything else, "I'm not lying!"

"Swear to me. Swear to me on something that matters." They stared at each other for a long moment before she smiled slightly and nodded.

"Fish fingers and custard." Amy watched as he tried to return her smile and sighed in relief as he finally spoke.

"My life in your hands. Amelia Pond." He looked past her for a moment before nodding slightly and moving away from her back to the console.

Amy felt her face drop and felt the comfort of Rory's supporting hand on her shoulder as River thanked her for coming up with something.

The Doctor slipped back into manic mode then, "Canton Everett Delaware the third! Who is that?"

River moved up next to him, and he could still sense the stiffness in her from his verbal attack. "Ex FBI. Got kicked out."

He looked at her and felt a moment of regret at his actions. As frustrated as he was, he shouldn't have said those things. He also felt some disappointment. At the fact that she just took it. He sometimes missed having someone around who would have called him on that. Someone who forced him to behave. Made him stop. He was reminded of Donna, but that was nearly as painful as the person he had tried to stop himself thinking of before and he spoke in a gentler tone that was something of an apology. "Why?"

"Looks like six months after he left the bureau, the president contacted him for a private meeting." River moved closer to the screen and seemed to relax slightly, like she understood his unspoken regret.

"Right. 1969… Who's the president?"

"Richard Milhous Nixon. Vietnam. Watergate. But some good stuff too." River looked from the screen to the Doctor and noted that he was looking intrigued. And a little disgusted.

"Yeah, well not enough." He wasn't a fan of the Nixon administration.

River grinned at him and they started to fall back into the banter that was comfortable for them, "Hippy!"

He looked back at her with mock disgust, happy to be back into the pattern, "Archeologist." He kept his hand on the handhold by the screen and watched as she worked the controls. He still wasn't sure how he felt about her ability to do that and moved along looking at Rory and Amy. "Ok, since I don't know what I'm getting into this time, for once I'm being discrete. Putting the engines on silent!" He grinned at them and pushed a switch as he moved away to the other side of the console.

There was a screeching noise that belied his words and he turned to rush back over as it abruptly stopped. He looked at River accusingly. "Did you do something?"

She was obviously lying as she answered with a shake of her head, "No! Just… watching."

He looked at her for a second longer then continued, "Putting things on invisible. Haven't done this in awhile. Big drain on the power!"

Rory looked a bit surprised, possibly wondering why they hadn't used the invisibility in other somewhat frightening situations, "You can make the TARDIS invisible?"

River leaned past Rory and hit a lever, saying lowly, "Very nearly."

The Doctor leaned over and looked at her suspiciously. "Did you touch something?"

"Just admiring your skill sweetie." They had a momentary stare off before he nodded and moved away.

"Good. You might learn something." He moved to the screen and smacked the side of it. "Well, scanner won't work quite right while we're cloaked." He moved away then, and started down the stairs to the door. "Just be a moment." He sensed them moving to follow him and shook his head, "Woah, woah, we are in the most powerful city in the most powerful county in the world. Let's just take things slow."

That said he popped his head out and swallowed heavily. He was in the middle of the oval office. He hesitated while deciding exactly what he should do as the recording of what seemed to be a telephone call started and he listened carefully. He eased his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out something to take notes with. This was both strange and exciting. He continued his note taking as the call played out and the men continued to discuss it. Only looking up when there was sudden silence. He moved his hand in a carry on gesture then looked at the shock on their faces as they stared at him.

Oh. Right then. He smiled slightly, going for a reassuring look but not quite sure if he was pulling that off since they continued to look… concerned. "Oh… Hello! Uh, bad moment." He moved away slightly and looked down at the rug. "Oh look, this is the –oval- office. I was looking for the uh, oblong room. I'll just be off then. Shall I?" He noted Nixon pressing a button. And turned to hurry it up a bit. He misjudged the distance to the TARDIS, sneaky thing, and smashed into her. He fell back with a grunt. He heard her groan a bit as she settled back down from his hitting her full force and called out to those inside, "Don't worry! Always does that when she's cloaked!"

He grunted again as he was tackled to the ground and looked up as the room filled with secret service agents. Well this was just fantastic.


	5. Chapter 5

Inside the TARDIS River shook her head as the machine settled after the Doctor had apparently rammed into the side of her. "Every time." She grabbed the screen and pulled it towards her.

Rory watched her movements and frowned. "I thought he said the scanner didn't work when she was cloaked." He flinched a bit as River brought together some pieces and they sparked. She made a cheeky comment about that and they all advanced on the screen to see the Doctor being converged on by quite a large group of armed men. He yelled out, "River! Have you got my scanner working yet?"

She nodded with an exasperated smile. "Oh yes, I hate him."

She let out a little laugh as he anticipated her statement and answered her, "No you don't!" The men started to talk about securing him in another location and removing the president from the room and he yelled, "Make her blue again!" He grinned as his instructions were followed and the TARDIS stood there in all her brilliant blue glory. He took advantage of the momentary distraction and by the time the president got out the words, 'What the hell is that?' He was ready to answer from the man's own desk.

He had his feet propped up and smiled in the face of all the guns pointed at him, "Mr. President." He drawled, "That child just told you everything you need to know. But you weren't listening. Never mind though, cause the answer is yes. I'll take the case."

He sighed slightly and gestured at the men still pointing their guns at him, "Fellows. The guns, really? I just walked into the highest security office in the United States, parked a big blue box on the rug. You think you can just shoot me?"

He sighed as River ruined his moment by running from the TARDIS and yelling, "They're Americans!" As all the guns turned to her he did have to acknowledge her point. Americans and guns. He shook his head slightly. Amy and Rory had joined her and the men didn't seem to know who to shoot at. He stood taking advantage of the confusion and decided to take control of the situation as the president continued to ask, rather stupidly he thought, who they all were and what the TARDIS was.

"It's a police box. Can't you read?" He dropped his hands and carried on. "I'm your new undercover agent, on loan from Scotland Yard. Codename the Doctor and these are my top operatives. The Legs, the Nose and Mrs. Robinson." He grinned slightly as River shook her head and muttered that she hated him. "No you don't."

Nixon spoke again, boring man. "Who are you?"

"No, boring question." He tilted his head to the side and continued, "Who's phoning you? That's interesting. Cause Canton 3 is right. That was definitely a girl's voice. Which means there's only one place in America from where she could be phoning." He was looking right at Canton Everett Delaware the third as he finished and was not disappointed when the man asked the right question.

"Where?" One of the random suits chastised him for engaging with the intruder and the Doctor let out a sigh. This was why he preferred Britain.

The Doctor continued like the last word spoken had been Delaware's. "You heard everything I heard, it's simple enough. Give me five minutes and I will explain." He sat and propped his feet up again as he finished. "However, lay a finger on me or any of my friends, and you will never, ever know." He looked at Delaware as he waited to see what would happen next.

The man was smiling slightly and gestured at the TARDIS. "How'd you get that in here? I mean, you didn't carry it in."

Grinning the Doctor asked, "Clever, eh?"

Canton smiled wider. "Love it." He ignored the same secret service agent as he was yelled at again, this time about complimenting the intruder, and went on, "Five minutes?"

The Doctor looked at Nixon as he waited for the final decision. "Five."

The secret service agent continued to object when Canton spoke again, this time addressing the president. "Mr. President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and three of his friends. And that," He pointed at the outspoken agent. "Is the man he walked past. One of them is worth listening to. I say we give him five minutes. See if he delivers."

"Thanks Canton." The Doctor smiled, still sitting with his feet propped up and wondering what would happen next.

Canton spoke again, that same ghost of a smile on his face. "If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself."

The Doctor made a face. "Not so thanks."

The secret service agent started to object again when Nixon shut him up and agreed to Canton's suggestion.

"Five minutes." Canton looked at the Doctor, the smile gone.

The Doctor sat up as the guns were put away and spoke quickly, while fiddling with the objects on the desk, his usual props not at his fingertips. "I'm going to need a SWAT team, ready to mobilize, street maps covering all of Florida, a pot off coffee, twelve jammy dodgers and… a fez." He finished hopefully.

Canton spoke to the men in the room. "Get him his maps."

Deflated slightly, the Doctor decided to take what he could get.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note- I still don't own Doctor Who**

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><p>As the Doctor moved around looking at maps and muttering on about spacemen and leads, Amy moved to River and asked in a low voice, "Spaceman? Like the one we saw at the lake?"<p>

River nodded and moved away, "Maybe. Probably."

Amy frowned and was about to follow, wondering why River was so distracted when she stopped. There was something standing by the door. There was a feeling of deja-vu and something sinister. Amy stared at it then whispered, "I remember."

Rory heard her and stepped in front of her asking, "What do you remember?"

She shook her head, confused at what he was saying. "I don't know… I just." She stopped and put a hand to her mouth, suddenly feeling the overwhelming urge to vomit. She thought she heard River's voice asking after her and felt Rory's hand on her elbow as she shook her head. "I'm just feeling sick." She stepped away and stopped in front of the door, the secret service agents standing there looking stern. "I'm sorry, is there a toilet or something?" She started to feel dismayed as the man who had spoken out so strenuously against the Doctor earlier started to deny her request, and started to ponder over whether or not she should aim for his shoes when she threw up.

Canton's voice spoke out over his, sounding exasperated. "Shut up and take her to the restroom." She nodded her thanks as she was led from the room. Deciding not to complain when they prevented Rory from following her.

As they got to the toilet Amy looked at the man following her with her eyebrows raised, "Actually, I can usually manage this alone." His jaw tightened but he stayed outside.

She stepped in and gasped in shock and fear. There was a figure standing at the far side of the room. And she remembered. "I saw you before, at the lake. And here. But then I forgot… How did I forget? What are you?"

She was interrupted by a toilet flushing, and a woman stepped out of a stall and up to a sink, passing dangerously close to the menacing figure. Amy called out to her in a panicked voice, "Get back! Step back from it!"

The woman, a middle aged blonde wearing thick glasses, looked at Amy in confusion before turning to the alien. She let out a yelp, then a laugh. "What is that a mask? Something from Star Trek? Ben, is that you?" As Amy spoke again, urging her to move away from the creature the woman turned to face her. There was a moment of confusion on her face before she spoke, "Back from what honey?"

Amy looked at her in disbelief for a moment before nodding at the figure, "That."

She watched as the woman turned back to it and let out a small scream before laughing nervously. "Oh my God, is that like a Star Trek mask? Ben, that has to be you." The woman paused for a moment before saying with some confusion. "Did I just say all that?" She took a step closer to it when Amy called out again, begging her to stay back. She turned to Amy, "Back honey? Back from what?"

Before Amy could answer the lights started to flicker, and in the face of Amy's obvious panic the woman tried to reassure her. "It's just the lights. They never fix them, I mean there is nothing…" She had turned again, facing the creature as the room filled with lightening and the alien reached out a hand.

Amy watched in horror as the creature vaporized the woman. "You didn't have to kill her! She couldn't even remember you!" She kept talking as she slid her phone from her pocket and snapped a picture, hoping her continued speaking would distract it from her actions. Also hoping that if she was vaporized next that the Doctor would find the picture and know what to do. "How does that work then? We can only remember you while we're seeing you is that it? Why did you have to kill her?"

She hadn't been expecting an answer and when the creature spoke she felt her eyes widen even farther in her fear. "Joy. Her name was Joy. And your name is Amelia." It took a step closer to her and Amy shrank back against the wall. "You will tell the Doctor. What he must know, and what he must NEVER know."

"How do you know about that?" Amy was glad to find that she could still speak through her fear, but was ashamed of how small her voice sounded.

"Tell him!" As it got closer Amy turned and ran from the room, stumbling to a stop in front of the secret service agent.

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><p>When they got back to the oval office things moved rather quickly, the Doctor figured out exactly where the little girl was and rushed them all into the TARDIS. If there was one thing he could be counted on, it was that he rushed into action when a child cried.<p>

Canton had tagged along as they traveled to the facility where the child had apparently been kept. The things they saw there were alien and scary, and made no sense.

River had found a hatch and disappeared down it briefly before popping back up and announcing that she was going to take a longer look, leaving the rest of them to keep looking for clues above.

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><p>Rory was afraid. He had followed River into these tunnels, past bizarre equipment that seemed to have been used on a little girl. As they walked he tried to wrap his head around that. What possible sense could all of this make? He thought he heard something and took a step closer to River as she knelt in front of the locked door. She was concentrating on it and he thought she looked almost afraid.<p>

Things going on seemed so strange. Nothing made any sense and the one person he expected to be completely unruffled by that was looking disconcertingly bothered by all of this.

He asked a question that was still bothering him, not that he really expected her to answer. "River, who was she?"

River was silent for a long moment and he was surprised when she actually spoke. "She is someone important. Both in the past and the future." She stood as the door finally popped open and he almost missed her next words, they were muttered lowly under her breath, almost like she was talking to herself. "The Big Bad Wolf."

Rory felt his mouth drop open in surprise. The words, he had thought he must be imagining them, but he kept seeing them everywhere. Bad Wolf. He was about to ask a question when he followed her into the room and was shocked to silence.

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><p>Amy stood looking at all of the machinery, sickened at the fact that it had been used to torture a little girl. She looked over at the Doctor where he stood checking his readings on things and thought about the fact that there was something she had to tell him. Something important.<p>

She took a step over to him and then was stopped from speaking when they heard the little girl scream. Canton was the first to move into action, drawing his gun and running from the room. The Doctor followed closely after him and Amy chased him, trying to think what it was she needed to say. She held her stomach and doubled over in pain as the scream sounded again. She had to hurry.

As she caught up with the Doctor he was knelt by the unconscious form of Canton. She crouched down beside him and whispered urgently, "Doctor, I have something to tell you. It's important!"

He looked up from the man on the ground and stared at her in disbelief, "What? Now?"

She nodded and opened her mouth, not really aware of what she was about to say. "Doctor, I'm pregnant." What? Where had that come from?

The Doctor seemed to be wondering the same thing as he looked at her in confusion. He was about to speak when they saw the astronaut in the doorway. Amy reached for Canton's gun and before the Doctor could stop her she had shot once at what she saw now was the little girl. The little girl was in the astronaut's suit.

Why did nothing make any sense?


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note- I own nothing.**

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><p>Canton Everett Delaware the third was confused as hell. He awoke to gunshots. And screaming. And he was being dragged from a room as the spaceman stood in a distant doorway, wearing the face of a little girl. He stumbled as the Doctor, who had apparently been the one dragging him dropped him to yell more at the red head. She had apparently been the one who had been shooting.<p>

More confusion came as River and Rory came rushing back in screaming that they all needed to run. Run from what? Seriously… the spaceman was the little girl. That's who they had come to help. They were all of them hollering at each other and he shook his head as he felt the back of it and his fingers came away with blood on them. Who had hit him?

He noticed then that all of the others were silent and staring at something behind him. He saw as the Doctor looked at him in what was probably an attempt at reassuring calm and waved him forward. "Come away from there now Canton."

Canton shook his head, still feeling more than a little addled from the hit to his head. "Away from what?" He asked as he turned.

He saw what.

The room filled with the crackle of electricity and he heard the others run as the alien stepped right up to him and spoke. How the hell it was speaking without a mouth was beyond him, and he wondered at the fact that his brain was still trying to figure things out in the face of the impossible and the horrific. "Kill them." The voice said. And for some bizarre reason… the voice made sense. He turned to look in the direction the others had gone in and stopped.

Wait… What?

He shook his head and took a step forward. He needed to catch up to the others. He had no idea what was happening here. He just knew he had to catch up to them. And he had to kill them.

Wait… What?

Why would he want to kill them? What was happening here? He shook his head again and then lifted his hand against a sudden light. Not like the lightening. Wait… What lightening? He wasn't sure.

This light was like a golden haze though, and it felt thick and vaguely sticky. Like warm taffy. And it seemed to be slowing things around him.

"That is what it's doing. Kind of." A woman stepped towards him through the light and he saw that the light seemed to be almost coming from her. He also saw that she didn't look too good. Even with the unearthly and strangely beautiful light, she looked haggard. Her eyes were hollow and tired and she looked too thin. He saw then that she had strange red welts on some of her exposed skin.

Apparently the little girl hadn't been the only victim of the machines. She spoke again and he frowned. She didn't sound quite right either. "Mr. Delaware, I am sorry that there isn't time to explain much." She lifted a hand as he opened his mouth to speak and he closed it. Waiting. "Thank you. Listen, you have to trust the Doctor. He is the only hope for earth. That whisper in the back of your mind about killing them? Keep acting like you believe it and will follow it without question. They can't know we talked. But trust him, no matter how crazy his plan seems."

When she had spoken about the whisper he felt an icy panic grip his chest, he remembered. "How? I don't know how to do that, I didn't even remember them until you said that."

She nodded and winced, like she was in pain, "I know. But this is gonna help you. You won't really remember this either. But it will keep that corner of your mind safe. Help you resist. It's not much, but it's all I can do."

Canton shook his head, "Who are you? What the hell is going on?"

He wasn't going to get his answer it seemed. As the light faded he saw her face contort in pain and then things were moving fast again. He had to get to the others. He had to kill them.

Wait… What?

No he didn't.

He shook his head and took off, following the others onto the TARDIS and waiting to hear the plan.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note- I don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>Three months later Canton had been busy. As the man put in charge of the situation by president Nixon, he could operate pretty much with impunity. As he hunted down the companions of the Doctor he tried not to think much beyond killing them.<p>

That was what he was supposed to do.

As he shot Rory Williams in the street, he looked down at the body in relief. The compulsion was gone. He felt as though a weight had been lifted from him.

He turned and walked back to the car, not bothering to look as the body was loaded into a bag.

When he got back to the Doctor's prison, the one he had had commissioned, he had the two body bags containing both Rory and his wife dragged in and laid on the floor.

The Doctor looked at the body bags then back at Canton. "Is there a reason you're doing this?"

"I want you to know where you stand." Canton replied coolly.

In a slightly exasperated voice the Doctor answered him, "In a cell."

"In a perfect cell." Canton countered. "Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a single sound." He stood to the side as the agents left the cell and then put his hand up to a panel. "No radio waves, not the tiniest particle of anything." The door slid shut quite seamlessly and he turned to the man on the chair.

The Doctor was looking a little worse then he had three months ago. When he had explained what they had to do.

_Amy looked up as Canton stumbled into the TARDIS and shut the door behind him, leaning against it and breathing heavily for a moment. "Oh, thank God. Are you all right?" She stepped towards him and held out his gun, "Sorry… I just borrowed it."_

_He nodded as he took it from her, and he stared at the gun in his hand for a long moment as the smile faded from her face and she looked nervously from him to the Doctor and back again before stepping away slowly. _

_The sound of her footsteps on the grating drew his gaze to her and then, almost accidentally, he noticed that the gun was now trained on her. He looked at her for a moment before he dropped the gun to his side and shook his head like he was trying to clear it. "I don't know what happened in there, and I'm not sure I want to."_

_The Doctor was coming towards him now, and he fought the urge to lift the gun again, finally opening his hand and letting it fall to the floor with a clatter._

_The Doctor tilted his head to the side slightly and his eyes darted to the closed doors, then back to Canton. "You want to shoot me don't you?" At Canton's uncertain nod the Doctor continued. "Of course… Tunnels all over the planet, they're everywhere but no one remembers. Because they don't want them to. Post hypnotic suggestion." He spun away from the former FBI agent and rushed to the console, pushing the necessary levers to send them into the vortex._

_Canton took a couple of steps away from the gun on the floor and went up the stairs, gripping the railing tightly and wondering what the hell was happening to him. He looked up as the Doctor came near him again and stood, his arms crossed over his chest. _

_The Doctor seemed to be coming to some conclusion, "You were told to kill us, but you haven't. Got right back in here with us and could have taken out at least Amy before we noticed what was wrong and restrained you. But you didn't. Why?"_

_Shaking his head, Canton released the railing and turned to lean against it, looking at the four other people in the room, all of whom were looking at him with varying degrees of suspicion or confusion. He cleared his throat. "The hell if I know. I know I feel like I should… But I also feel like I need to ignore that feeling…" He paused then and twisted his lips into something between a grimace and a smile. "I also know that you will come up with a plan Doctor. And that I am supposed to trust you."_

_Letting his hands fall to his sides the Doctor let out a huff of air. Like he was exasperated. "I hate feeling like something is trying to tell me what to do." Canton didn't really understand what he meant by that, but figured he probably didn't need to. _

_He watched as the Doctor paced back and forth in front of him muttering to himself and then nodded firmly. "I have it." He spun on his heel then, his face inches from Canton's. "You are going to feel compelled to kill us until you do. So… You should."_

_Canton jerked back in surprise, "Come again?"_

_The Doctor smiled at him slowly, "Not to worry Canton Everett Delaware the third. It is all part of the plan."_

Canton raised his eyebrows as he looked at the Doctor. "In here you are literally cut off from the rest of the universe. " He smiled slightly, "So I guess they can't hear us, right?"

The Doctor nodded and his eyes darted around the room. "Good work Canton. Door sealed?"

Canton leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, "You bet." He stood there somewhat enjoying the show as the body bags started moving and the Doctor stood up and shrugged off his chains. He smirked as Rory made a complaint about the lack of air holes. "Never had a complaint before."

Amy looked at him as she extricated herself from the heavy plastic. "Isn't it going to look odd that you're staying in here with us?"

Shrugging he answered and stepped away from the wall. "Odd, but not alarming. They know there's no way out of this place."

The Doctor was pulling up his suspenders and added, "Exactly. Whatever they might think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere." That said he smiled and leaned over, knocking the TARDIS out of camouflage and snapped his fingers, smiling wider as the doors popped open. "Shall we?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note- I own nothing.**

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><p>They had just picked up River and the Doctor was mumbling about her recklessness and the fact that she had gotten water on a few of his favorite books. He really needed to see that the swimming pool was permanently moved out of the library. At that thought he looked crossly at the rotor.<p>

He shook his head and turned from the console, just missing two words that flashed across the screen, and wondered at the sudden exasperation he felt brushing against his mind from the ship. He happened to see Rory's face as he looked at the words the Doctor had just missed and wondered at the puzzlement he saw there. Lots of wondering going on at the moment.

"All right there Rory?"

Rory shook his head as though to clear it and then nodded. "Yeah. Just thought I remembered something for a moment. Not sure what it was though."

The Doctor smiled at him and looked over at River as she came into the room drying her hair. "Well then. Time for the secret weapon." That said he led them from the TARDIS too look at the pinnacle of human ingenuity at that time. Apollo 11.

River looked from the space shuttle to the Doctor and asked in a slightly skeptical voice, "Your secret weapon is Apollo 11?"

He shook his head slightly, "No no, that would be silly. It's Neil Armstrong's foot." He ignored the disbelieving looks on his companions faces as he turned back to the TARDIS. Time to work.

* * *

><p>Rose leaned back from her computer and stretched slowly as her eyes flicked to the clock on the edge of her desk. Seemed to her that two a.m. was plenty late to be working on paperwork. She stood and picked up her cup of cold coffee, wincing slightly at the taste.<p>

She shook her head and set the cup back down before snatching her jacket off the back of the chair and shrugging into it. She yawned as she keyed the elevator and got inside. Her had drifted to the ring on her left ring finger and twirled it around absently as the elevator descended.

Her lips turned up slightly as she thought of the lecture Tony would be giving her tomorrow for working so late. It was always at least a little amusing when he spoke to her like she was someone decades younger than him instead of someone who was 20 years his senior. It was hard for him to accept that along with looking about the same age as his children, she didn't require the same amount of sleep as a baseline human.

As she settled into her car, she did have to admit to herself that he might have a point. She did feel oddly exhausted. She drove for a while in silence, wondering not for the first time if she shouldn't sell and find a flat closer to work. She couldn't quite do that though; it felt like selling the house would be like selling the memories of her life here. That was something she couldn't live with.

Rose was jarred from her thoughts as someone suddenly appeared in her headlights and she slammed on the breaks as she twisted the wheel and fought to maintain control of the vehicle. She winced as she felt the impact of the car slamming against the guardrail and she took a deep breath as she reached to turn the car off.

Climbing out of the car she stumbled slightly as her feet hit the pavement and she tried to regain her bearings. Her hand fluttered to her head and her fingers came away wet with blood. She hadn't even noticed hitting her head.

Narrowing her eyes she looked at the space she would have sworn she saw someone standing. It had looked in the brief glimpse she had gotten like a pale man in a dark suit. But it felt off somehow. Like she couldn't quite grasp her memory of the sight.

There was no one there now though and she let out her breath in a huff as she turned to look at the mess of her car. Shit. She shook her head slightly to clear it and turned away from the car as she dug her cell phone out of her pocket.

She looked curiously at the phone in her hand and shook her head before turning to survey the damage to her car. Shit it was bad. She sighed heavily and turned away from it to call for a tow when she realized she had done that before…

Wait… What?

Rose shook her head and turned to look at her car, trying to gauge the extent of the damage. It felt like alarm bells were going off in her head as she felt her brows draw down in frustration. What the hell was happening here?

She spun away from the car and her hand went to her sidearm, pulling it out and holding it at the ready as she lifted the phone to her ear. It autodialed her brother and she heard the sleep in his voice as he answered, "Hello? Rosie?"

"Tony. There's something happening." She moved slowly as she advanced on the road, to the area she would swear she had already looked more than once and somehow lost the memory.

His voice had lost any traces of sleep and she was reminded of their father at the alert and ready tone of his voice. "All right Rose. I am having trouble trying to triangulate your location. There is some kind of interference with the signal from your locator chip."

Rose had gone about twenty feet from her car and frowned as her eyes raked over the seemingly deserted street. "I was on my way home. The system in my car should have sent out an impact alarm." She heard nothing but the sound of her footsteps on the concrete and the quiet sound of typing coming through the phone.

"I've found the alert, but it is nowhere near where you should have been if you were on your way home. Dispatching a team anyway. This probably isn't the time, but I think we've talked about these late hours you keep."

"Come on Tony, most definitely not the time." She lowered the gun slightly as she saw something in the light from a street lamp. "I'm near the bridge on Hampshire Avenue. Something up ahead, I'm approaching. It's weird though Tony, my time sense is going all kinds of tingly."

He made a huffing sound and she heard the tinny sounds of other voices on his end of the call as he got the feed from the security teams he had dispatched. "There is a team enroute. Rose, don't engage until you have back up."

Her brows drew together and the gun fell lower. This was so strange. "Tony… it looks like a baby buggy." There was another moment that seemed to stretch and distort in her sense of time and she was standing by the buggy, her phone lowered to her side.

Part of her was aware of Tony's voice coming from it, sounding loud and alarmed. That same part was dimly aware of the distant sound of a car coming fast, likely containing the security team. That part of her seemed strangely muffled though and she looked down at the empty buggy with a confused frown on her face as she felt her body being suffused with heat.

The air around her was crackling with energy and she looked up past the buggy to the creature standing a few feet from her. She remembered now, thinking it was a pale man in a dark suit… She had been very wrong. It was an alien and the menace she felt coming off of it in waves scared her in a deep place she hadn't felt in a very long time.

She was dimly aware that the energy the alien was throwing around was not responsible for the heat that was increasing at an incredible rate, and that the area between her and the alien was now filled with a pale gold light that was slowly growing in intensity. The glow intensified at the same rate as the heat, and she realized distantly that it was coming from her.

Rose opened her mouth to scream, the heat was intense and her confusion and fear only made things worse. No sound came from her but there was a moment of intense silence as time seemed to stutter to a complete stop around her and in that moment she felt a clarity that was so complete the pain rivaled the heat.

She looked around with some sense that was completely separate from her eyes and saw everything. These creatures… These Silence… She saw the security team and she even saw her brother, sitting at the desk in his home office with his face full of fear and anxiety… Most of all though, twisting in and around her were words that caused her heart to constrict as she felt even more fear, here when she thought she was all full up.

Bad Wolf.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note- Thanks so much for the follows and favorites, I really hope people continue to enjoy the story. Also a huge thanks to MirrorFlower and DarkWind for the lovely review.**

**I won't be posting 9 chapters at a time again, I just wanted to post enough to actually have the story going a bit. Trying to stay a good 20000 words or so ahead of what's posted so there aren't long delays for anyone following. From here, I am hoping it will be a chapter or two a week.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**I still don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>The Doctor couldn't deny that he was disappointed. Miss Rose Tyler had seemed to have everything he looked for in a companion, and the impulse to ask her had been strong enough to override his decision to remain alone after the war.<p>

He approached the console and flipped the lever that sent him away from London and into the vortex. Bloody apes, he would never be done rescuing them. He picked up a spanner from the console and tossed it in the air before catching it and turning from the console. He had noticed the old girl dragging a bit when he left earth.

He was kneeling to remove one of the floor panels when the room went sideways and sparks flew from the console. He stumbled to his feet and over to the console as the room bucked and rolled, pulling the monitor over to look at it.

As soon as he had pulled the view screen over it went blank, that was immediately followed by a hard landing and immediate power loss. He picked himself up off the floor and started pressing buttons and pulling levers mostly at random, even though he knew it was useless.

She was dead; he couldn't feel the TARDIS brushing against his mind at all. To top that the room was rapidly filling with smoke, enough that even his respiratory bypass system was starting to struggle with it.

He staggered towards the door and outside, stopping to lean against the outside of the TARDIS and breathe for a moment.

After a little over a minute he stood away from the wood and looked around. He didn't recognize the planet he was on, it looked a bit like a forested section of earth, but the gravity was just slightly different.

As he turned around he saw a body, looked like a woman. He pulled out his sonic and stepped towards it, frowning at the readings he was getting. He knelt down next to her and pulled her over onto her back to get a better look. "Huh."

Well this was impossible.

Here was Rose Tyler, dead on an alien planet.

* * *

><p>Rose groaned and lifted a hand to her head. She must have been more tired than she though last night. She didn't even remember getting home and going to bed. Come to think of it… The surface she was laying on felt a lot more like the ground then her bed.<p>

She opened her eyes as she sat up and confirmed that yes; she was definitely on the ground; and in the middle of the woods. She took a deep breath as she got first to her knees and then unsteadily to her feet. This was not earth… And also… This didn't feel like Pete's World.

Letting her hand drop to her side, she spun in a slow circle and stopped dead when she realized what she was standing by. She closed the distance to the TARDIS and splayed her fingers as she pressed her hands to the wood.

Something was wrong though; she didn't feel quite right. It was like the ship was dead. Rose dropped her hands with a frown and moved towards the open doors when a throat cleared loudly several feet away.

Oh lord, she knew that voice. One of her hands drifted to her chest as she turned to face him and she couldn't help the wide smile she felt splitting her face. She had taken a couple of quick steps towards him when she realized that he looked rather less then pleased to see her.

Coming to a stop within arms distance in front of him she felt her smile dim as she swallowed nervously. "Um… Hello."

The Doctor lifted an eyebrow and she could tell that this was really not going to be good. "Well. Rose Tyler. You know, I could swear that you said no. Yet, here you are." He frowned and looked her up and down, "I could also swear that you were dead less then five minutes ago. I believe some explanations are in order."

Rose took a step back, trying to distance herself from his disdain. She looked over her shoulder at the TARDIS and instead of responding to his statements, asked, "What's wrong with her? Why is she dark?"

"That's actually something I wanted to ask you about Rose Tyler. Just drifting along in the vortex, and something crashed us here next to your dead body." He crossed his arms as he loomed over her. "Which brings us back to the fact that you were dead on a planet you should have no means to get to."

"Yeah… About that…" Rose swallowed nervously, "You shouldn't be… Well, I shouldn't be… Oh bollocks. This is bloody awful. We aren't supposed to meet this way." She shook her head and looked resolutely away from him and towards the ship. "You said she crashed here where I was?"

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows at that, "Don't plan on repeating myself. How did you get here then? Considering you seemed dead set on staying behind with Rickey the idiot."

She said reprovingly over her shoulder, "Don't call him that." She approached the doors and grimaced at the smell of the smoke that still hovered in the console room. Stepping away from the doors she was briefly overcome with lightheadedness and sat heavily on the ground. She looked up at his steely expression and rolled her eyes. ""You're the oh so clever one with the fancy time sense. What was it… The revolution of the earth and the hurtling through space bit? Why do you think I'm here?"

He had almost started to look concerned when she sat down suddenly, but the cavalier tone of her words had his frown deepening again. He pulled out his sonic and repeated his scans from earlier, "Care to explain why you are steeped in several forms of radiation that should be fatal to an ape like you?"

"Let me guess… Artron radiation, a healthy dose of Huon particles, and of course loads of void stuff?" She waved a hand at him dismissively. "It's complicated and you aren't supposed to know yet." She lifted a hand to rub it against her head absently and finished quietly. "I'm guessing that since we aren't currently under attack by reapers, you probably won't remember this anyway."

"Time is always in flux Rose Tyler." He let out a sigh and dropped down to sit on the ground as well, his long limbs folded awkwardly. "The future is by no means certain."

She looked at him and felt some of the hardness that came from years as a top level field agent leak into her eyes. "This future is. Too much depends on you going back to get me. You will not be on the slow path here."

The Doctor scoffed. "I have no intention of going back to get you. You said no, and I don't do second chances."

"God I had forgotten what a git this you could be sometimes." She grinned at the memory, "Gotta admit, I've missed it from time to time."

"This me?" He looked at her suspiciously. "You seem to know an awful lot about me Rose Tyler." He sniffed, "And I am not a git."

Rose grinned with her tongue touching her teeth and answered in a teasing voice, "Oh yes you are."

They were silent for several moments, and Rose let herself fall back to lay on the cool grass as she tried to remember how exactly she had come to be here. It was strange, she remembered nothing more than getting ready to leave work, and yet she felt the displacement that told her she was missing something.

When she tried to force herself to remember… She felt a bone deep fear that was very real even though she couldn't remember what had caused it. On top of that, she felt a strange hollowness where the senses she thought of as 'Bad Wolf' usually resided. When she tried to access it she recoiled from it in pain. It was almost like it was burnt out or something. This had never happened before.

She was drawn from her thoughts as the Doctor's voice asked quietly. "What changed your mind then? When I supposedly come back to ask you again?"

Turning her head to look at him with a smile on her face, she answered. "Well, you forgot to mention she travels in time then, didn't you?"

He nodded slowly and she watched him contemplate that for a moment before speaking again, "Well Rose Tyler, if I don't end up stranded on this hunk of rock, what do you think is happening here?"

"Hell if I know." Rose sat up and brushed a couple of stray bits of grass out of her hair. "I really don't know how I ended up here. I was stuck in another universe, heading home from work. Then I woke up here." She frowned then and stood, walking towards the TARDIS doors again. "There's something there though. Something I'm not remembering."

The Doctor had stood as well and seemed to contemplate something before speaking. "I might be able to help with that. If you think your memory has been altered."

She took a quick step farther away from him almost without thinking and stumbled slightly. "Absolutely not." At his expression she shook her head and said more gently, "Sorry. I'm sorry, but no. Thank you. It'll come back to me."

He nodded and didn't press her for the time being, which she was grateful for. He gestured to the TARDIS, "I would let the old girl air out a bit more before heading in there." He looked around and turned to her with a shadow of the manic grin she remembered. "So Rose Tyler, feel like seeing what this rock has in store?"

Rose rubbed her hands up and down her arms and answered his smile with one of her own. She took the hand he offered and they set off down a small footpath in the trees.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note- Thanks for reading, and thank you to MirrorFlower and DarkWind and for the reviews. :) Reviews are awesome.**

**So, I don't have anyone beta reading this, I apologize for any mistakes.**

**Also, I don't own any of these characters or settings.**

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><p>As was to be expected when the Doctor and Rose Tyler encountered an alien world, something was definitely going on. They had come across a small village, primitive with thatch roofed huts and rough wooden pens for livestock.<p>

The strange thing was the silence. There was no one here, no person and no animal. Rose didn't even think she had seen an insect since she had woken in this strange place. She and the Doctor had drifted apart in the open space in the circle of huts and she heard him poking around behind her as she stood rooted to the spot in the doorway of the largest building.

There were no people, but there were piles of dust. Everywhere in here. She felt cold run through her as she thought of the last time she had seen something like that. There was only one creature she was aware of that could reduce living things to so much nothing in a breath and she was very afraid in that moment of what might have happened here.

She pulled out her sonic then and scanned the pile nearest her. It was definitely remains, and yes there were high levels of radiation… It wasn't quite like the last time she had seen this, but she couldn't be sure exactly what that might mean.

The Doctor's voice brought her out of her fears and she looked up, confused for a moment, "Sorry, what?"

He looked at her with his eyes narrowed and gestured to the tool in her hand. "Well. I was going to ask about the sonic screwdriver you're using, but I think I'll ask what has you so scared instead. You know what might have done this?"

Rose stood slowly and looked out over the piles of dust. "I might. I have seen something like this before. Readings are all wrong though."

Seeming to see past her explanation to the fear, he said, "You think it has something to do with you." At her answering nod he looked out over the dust then ran his eyes over the rest of the dead town. "Let me ask you, this thing you're afraid might have happened, would it be sudden? Catch them by surprise?"

She nodded slowly, "Yes… It would happen quick as a thought or a breath."

The Doctor nodded then and gripped her shoulder reassuringly, "Whatever happened here, they had time to prepare. Look around, all the people in town are here in the biggest building, some of them with valuables." He shook his head, "They saw this death coming for them."

Impulsively, Rose threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly with her eyes squeezed shut. She felt him hesitate for a brief second before he gripped her waist and held her to him, his hand drifting up to the back of her head as she tucked her face into the crook of his neck.

After a long moment she pulled away and brushed the back of her hand against her cheeks. She cleared her throat and turned her attention back to the remains of the villagers. "What do you think then Doctor? Traces of some kind of radiation that I can't quite identify."

He pulled out his own sonic and scanned the pile nearest them with his lips pursed. He seemed content to ignore the moment they had just had, "It is… Unique." He moved away from her, tapping his sonic against the palm of his free hand.

Rose walked farther into the room, towards the back of the hall. There was a podium of some sort and a curtained doorway behind it. She ran her fingers over the book on the stand and frowned at the text, tossing a glance at the Doctor before shutting it, blocking the words from her sight and by extension, his. The Doctor seemed to have found something that interested him against the far wall. She moved to push aside the curtain of the doorway to see something impossible, and she remembered.

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><p>The Doctor watched as Rose snapped the book on the podium shut like it had personally offended her, and he waited until she had checked his position and moved on to follow and look at the book curiously.<p>

He had run his hand over the cover when he heard her gasp and there was weapons discharge behind him. He spun around to look at her and she was standing there crying, holding a gun. With a frown he came forward and snatched it from her hand, noticing that she let it go willingly.

She stepped away from him and pointed at the form laying on the floor. "That thing did this. I remember. I remember how I got here." She looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Oh lay off it. Yes I have a gun. And yes, I have years of training and experience in how to use it." He noticed an angry flash in her eyes as she said, "I haven't been left any choice Doctor. And you gave up your right to a say in my life decades ago."

Raising his eyebrows the Doctor tossed the gun back at her and she caught it deftly before tucking it into a pocket in her jacket. He watched as she moved to the lifeform on the floor and turned it over. He didn't recognize the species, which while not altogether unheard of, was more than a little bit strange. When he looked at her to question what she knew about it, he almost recoiled. Her eyes had a faraway ageless quality to them that alarmed him.

When she brought them up to meet his gaze, there were flecks of gold swirling in their brown depths and the expression they bore was solemn. "This thing was here because of me." She stood and left the room, going on as though she expected him to follow. He went to the doorway and watched as she stood in the room, looking at the remains of the people who had died there and sighed before turning to look at him. The gold in her eyes seemed to intensify and her voice when she spoke had an unnerving echo, "This is something you must never know."

The Doctor approached her cautiously, "What do you mean Rose? What are you doing?"

Her face was solemn as she turned to meet his eyes. "I see everything my Doctor. All that was, all that ever could be." He shook his head in disbelief and fear, but the alienness of her voice only intensified. "I bring life." He watched as the piles of dust in the room seemed to swirl in the air briefly before coalescing into people right before his eyes.

"Rose, you have to stop. This isn't natural." His voice had turned vaguely pleading and that fact alone scared him more than what was happening.

"But I can't. I am the Bad Wolf, I create myself." She reached out and the hand she laid against his cheek seemed to be on fire and so cold that it burned all at the same time. "You will forget what you must never know, and you will remember what you need to remember. Goodbye my Doctor."

He opened his mouth to question her, but the next thing he was aware of was standing in the console room of the TARDIS, watching as the same gold light that had started to surround Rose filled the room and the rotor came back to life. The door slammed shut and the take off sequence started; he just had time to say the words, "Bad Wolf?" Before he dropped down unconscious to the floor.

When he awoke, he sat up with a start. Had he actually fallen asleep on the floor? He stood, shaking his head and leaned against the console. It was a shame, that the girl said no. Rose Tyler. She had been fantastic.

He absently twirled a dial on the monitor and thought about what he had said when he invited her along. He had told her she could see the universe, and she had opted to stay behind, to a slow life of beans and toast. Something he could tell she was so beyond. He frowned at the niggling thought at the back of his mind. Had he mentioned that his TARDIS traveled in time? He hadn't. But he didn't do second chances. Not for anyone.

He told himself that 42 more times as he set his course back for that alley on earth.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note- Thank you for reading, and thanks for the awesome reviews MirrorFlower and DarkWind, and Iron Mikan Frost-Elric-Uzumaki.**

**I still don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>Rose closed her eyes and sagged against the wall, she felt completely drained as she listened to the people chattering away in the room with her. The energy was dissipating, but she could still sense the time energy fluttering through the room.<p>

As it dissipated she moved away from the wall and past the people who were drawing away from her in fear. She must still be manifesting, sometimes she couldn't tell.

When she got outside it was waiting for her, the reason she was here. The apparent commander of the small strike team stood there, gun at rest eyeing her carefully.

Some of the townspeople had followed her outside and stood, she could feel the fear coming from them as they looked at this new threat. There were five people in military uniform, and two creatures in hooded cloaks that felt strangely empty to her flanked them.

Rose smiled slightly and stood with her feet apart and her back straight, "You know who I am." It wasn't a question, yet the man inclined his head in a nod. Rose gestured at the town. "All these people. Did you kill them to make a point?"

"It was deemed an acceptable loss." The man's voice was cold, and his stiff demeanor didn't change as he delivered that ridiculous statement.

"An acceptable loss?" Rose looked over the small group and took a menacing step forward, "If you know who I am, then you know what I am capable of."

She turned her head as a new person entered the scene, a middle aged woman wearing an eye patch. The woman's voice dripped with sarcasm as she spoke. "Oh yes, we know what you can do. The big bad wolf. We also know what you cannot do." She smiled tightly, "I think you will find dear, that your reserves of energy are quite drained. You've been a busy little bee after all."

Rose didn't answer, but she knew that the woman was speaking the truth. She could fight, yes, but when it came right down to it, she wasn't sure she would win. The woman smiled at Rose's silence. "Rose Tyler. Companion of the Doctor. Even the wife of the Doctor. A goddess of time itself." She came to a stop a few feet in front of Rose. "I know your weakness Rose Tyler. You might be able to get away from us, but there are two things to consider. One, we will find you again. We have crossed the void itself to find you, nowhere in this universe is completely safe." Her smile widened, "Two, once you are gone, if you do not come with us peacefully, every life form on this planet will be exterminated. Again. Are you quite sure you want that on your conscience?"

"Why are you doing this?" Rose took a step back from the woman and the soldiers, not doubting their words. Her eyes drifted over the scared looking villagers and she knew she wouldn't be able to leave them to that fate.

"Because 'Demons run when a good man goes to war ; Night will fall and drown the sun; When a good man goes to war; Friendship dies and true love lies; Night will fall and the dark will rise; When a good man goes to war; Demons run, but count the cost; The battle's won, but the child is lost; When a good man goes to war.' Those words will come to pass, and the force that will power them for us… Why it's the greatest irony of all that it be you." She smiled then and the expression was frosty, "The Bad Wolf."

Rose shook her head slightly and sighed, "Well, I will warn you that you've got a tiger by the tale if you think you can control a force like that." She looked at the people again and sagged tiredly, "But you are correct. I will not fight you here."

The villagers watched, as she was disarmed and teleported away. One woman stepped slowly to the place their savior had occupied and picked up the item she had dropped. It was a necklace, with a key on the end. The metal felt strangely warm and alive and the people preserved it as their civilization grew, along with the story of the woman who had left it after saving their planet.

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><p>Rose really wasn't sure how long she had been in this place. Time was unclear when it went unmarked by any events outside of the pain. It was difficult to see anything outside of it most of the time.<p>

She was aware, in those moments when she bothered to try to think, of what it was they were trying to do. They were trying to drain her, with varying degrees of success.

This was different though; this was the first time in a measureless length of time that she felt something new. This was not pain; this was the absence of pain. Which in itself was such a new sensation that it felt vaguely uncomfortable.

It was also new that she could move. First of all she wiggled her fingers, then her toes. Next she opened her left eye, followed by her right. She stared at the ceiling for a moment that stretched out for an uncertain length of time.

The light was bright, a harsh white that was almost difficult to differentiate from the spaces of ceiling between the lights. After she had exhausted any interest in the ceiling, she turned her head to the side and saw a wall. It was the same uncomfortable white as the ceiling, and just as barren. She turned away almost immediately and looked to the other side.

Now that was different. She decided then to try to sit up and was surprised when she found that she could. She sat on the hard cot she had been laid out on and dangled her legs over the side.

Sitting up had left her feeling sort of disoriented and dizzy, but it was worth it as she looked around the room. It was completely bare, nothing but the platform she had been on and the object across the room, all of it a glaring nearly blinding white.

She glanced at the door, only finding it by the very slightly different blinding shade of white that it was. After a beat she dropped off the table and staggered slightly as her legs tried to find it in themselves to support her weight.

On wobbly legs she made her way towards the large tube across the room and when she got to it, she leaned against it panting from the effort of walking those few steps.

Catching her breath she pushed away from the thing and turned to face it, running her hands along it as she moved around it. She stopped when she got to something that broke the seamlessness of the white material the tube was made of and stood there for a moment with her hand on it.

Balancing up on the tips of her toes, Rose used one hand to brace herself against the tube and the other to pull back the slide on top of it, peering inside. She frowned as she looked at the ginger woman lying inside, her eyes closed as though she was sleeping and tears streaming from her eyes.

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><p>Rose opened her eyes and felt the heat of Bad Wolf engulfing her as she opened her mouth in a soundless scream. This flash of consciousness was brought on by something… Something she had seen in her dream…<p>

She was dimly aware that there were voices around her, some of them panicked and some of them angry. She pulled at her restraints, trying to focus her mind enough to do something more effective than pull at them with her limited strength.

The voices around her got louder as the heat intensified then she heard a gunshot and saw a flash out of the corner of her eye and she knew no more for the time being.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note- Thank you for reading and for the follows and favorites and reviews. Hope you all continue to enjoy the story.**

**So it is going to start getting a little more wibbly wobbly from here on out, and I hope it hangs together well. I am always happy to answer any questions anyone has.**

**Still don't own Doctor Who. Poor me.**

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><p>Rose stood on the beach again. That damn beach in Norway where she had had her heart broken twice. She walked along the water, huddling in her jacket against the cold and broodily stared straight ahead trying not to think, coming up short when she realized she wasn't alone.<p>

There was another woman here, young and ginger and wearing a white hospital gown. Rose approached her cautiously and stopped again when the girl spun around to face her, her face covered in tear tracks.

The girl looked at her disbelievingly then pointed at her with an unsteady hand, "Wait… I know you! I've seen you before!" She shook her head and stepped closer, "I saw you with the Doctor! And the angels! And in my dream!"

Rose nodded slowly and looked at the girl's goose bumped arms and the thin hospital gown fluttering in the wet cold wind. She shrugged out of the purple leather jacket and pulled it around the girl's shoulders. "I remember you. Had a dream… Not sure when. Here, this might not actually be real but you look cold." Her eyes flicked down to the girl's stomach then back up to her face, "How far along are you?"

Wiping tears off her cheeks the girl huddled into the jacket and looked down at her stomach with a laugh, "Not very, actually. Maybe three months? Four tops. I can't really be sure though… Why's it so big?"

"Well… Dreams are funny. You think of yourself as pregnant and this might be what you get. It's nice though, you get to see definite evidence of what you're fighting for out there." She smiled and reached out to rub the girls shoulder comfortingly. "I'm Rose by the way."

"You haven't met me yet then?" She sniffled and as Rose shook her head no she went on, "I'm Amy. Amy Williams." She looked down at her hand then and was happy to see her wedding ring in place, rubbing her finger on it absently for comfort.

Rose smiled at that and turned to lead her to a rock that she had liked to sit on when she came to this beach when she was actually there. "I'm sorry Amy, that my subconscious brought us here. Not exactly comfortable." After settling her on it and sitting down next to her, Rose went on. "So Amy. You travel with the Doctor?"

Amy nodded and looked at Rose then out at the ocean. "This is a dream? How is that possible?"

"Well… It is a little hard to explain, and I am not sure how much time we have." Rose took a breath and grimaced as she watched the waves for a moment. "I hate this beach." She blew out a breath and shoved her hair out of her face, cursing the realism of the place. "So Amy, you are being held captive somewhere. Same place I am I think. Do you know why? Do you know anything about the Silence? Demons Run?"

"Demons Run? No… I don't think so." She frowned and looked over at Rose with her head tilted to the side, "I don't mean to seem thick… But… I remember being with the Doctor… We went to 1969… Then there was a siren that wasn't a siren… But I also remember being in the tube… How is that possible? Is it something about being here?"

Rose grinned and caught her tongue between her teeth for a second, "No that's not thick Amy. You got it in one, which is brilliant. This place, it's your subconscious, you're dreaming and so you remember whatever trick they are playing on the Doctor to make him think you're still with him, and you are also remembering where you really are."

"Will this help? Will I be able to tell the Doctor so he can come for us?" Amy looked like she already knew the answer to that question, as depressing as it would be.

"In a way… But not in the way you're hoping." Rose squeezed her shoulder again and went on, "You won't really remember this, but it will help you keep a piece of yourself safe. And that's important."

Amy nodded and remained silent for a long while. She sighed then and looked over at Rose, "You said you saw me in a dream… But do you not remember meeting me? I mean, you look different, but I guess the whole dream thing…"

Shaking her head slowly Rose answered. "No. I'm sorry." She smiled crookedly before going on, "I'm sure you know from traveling with the Doctor… Time can be weird. I guess I haven't officially met you yet."

"I look forward to it." Rose rubbed her hands together to warm them and hoped that if this happened again it happened somewhere warmer.

"So how –is- this actually happening? I don't think I remember sharing dreams with anyone before."

Rose pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to decide how to explain. "I guess it's probably because of me. Sort of. While I was traveling with the Doctor, something happened. I ended up with some extra abilities."

"Wait… Bad Wolf… How do I know that? It's Bad Wolf… I remember! It was the time with the angels! And it was because of something called Bad Wolf!"

It was a little uncomfortable hearing the words out loud over and over again like that, and she laughed a little thinking of Harry Potter and Voldemort for some reason. She nodded then and looked over at Amy with a wry smile. "Yeah. That would be the long and short of it."

Amy smiled back then she looked out on the ocean, her hand resting on her stomach. After several long moments she opened her mouth to say something else and the beach dissolved, being replaced by darkness.

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><p>Amy woke suddenly and sat up. She remembered something, but she wasn't sure what… Her dream had been odd, but at the same time she was left feeling oddly comforted. It was a shame she couldn't really remember what it had been about.<p>

She hopped down from the top bunk and poked Rory in the shoulder, smiling at his groan before she went to find some caffeine. She was still thinking about the dream on and off as she moved around the kitchen and eventually found her way to the console room in fresh clothes.

There was something she wanted to ask the Doctor about it, but she couldn't quite remember what…

Then the little box came and in the excitement, it was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note- Thanks for reading. To answer a question, River is still going to marry the Doctor in this story. Rose and the Doctor won't be properly reunited for a rather long time, sorry if that's disappointing. **

**Thanks to those following and favoriting, and thanks so much for taking the time to review.**

**I still don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>Rose and Amy met several times in that place between awake and asleep over the next few weeks. They talked about their separate time with the Doctor sometimes, sharing stories and laughing. There were times they talked about their families, sharing sympathy and quiet time. Amy told her about the time with the angels, and Rose realized that in some ways she was already dead.<p>

Amy talked a lot about her pregnancy, her worries over what was going to happen to her baby. Rose tried to be comforting, but the danger of the situation was apparent no matter how you looked at it.

They didn't end up on the beach again, once they were in that horrible white room at the Torchwood offices. That had been a difficult place to sit and talk. They spent several dreams in the apartment Rose grew up in, and a handful in the TARDIS as Rose remembered it.

Outside of the dreams, Amy continued to remember very little, living her life as a not Amy between times aware in the tube. Rose knew nothing outside of the dreams except for the occasional attempt at consciousness that ended in death.

They were both haunted by the woman with the eye patch.

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><p>Rose awoke with a start and for once there was no one there waiting to send her back into the realm of unconsciousness. There was also a peculiar absence of pain. She sat up and took in her surroundings, everything was white, blindingly so just as in her dream.<p>

Unlike her dream, there was some kind of glass wall separating her from the tube she remembered. She got herself up on surprisingly steady legs and padded barefoot over to the wall, resting her had on it as she watched the people on the other side.

There was a lot of activity, medical staff in white moving with urgency and some soldiers standing with guns at the ready.

It was interesting that they were paying absolutely no attention to her and she wondered suddenly if she was really there or if this was another dream.

The activity increased as the girl inside the tube, the redhead from her dream, started to scream. Rose could just barely hear the screaming as the glass muffled most of the sound.

She was worried about what they might be doing to the girl and she could feel the burn as her agitation increased, and now the worry over what they had done to her added to her concern for the other woman.

Bad Wolf was never this close to the surface, but the energy had started to course through her and she held her head as she took deep breaths to try to calm herself. She turned from the scene in the other room as the energy built up around her and she had little success in tamping it down.

Rose dropped to her knees and closed her eyes for a moment before looking up and turning to the glass as something occurred to her. The glass was blocking the energy, she could see the pale gold mist that seemed to emanate from her when she was manifesting and it stopped dead at the wall. Somehow, they had figured out how to block it or harness it, as impossible as that seemed.

Taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly, Rose finally felt the energy coursing through her drain away and she leaned back against the glass wall as the gold mist slowly faded completely.

She sat there on the floor for some time before turning to look at what was happening in the room on the other side of the glass… It was done. The girl… Was her name Abby? Amy? Something like that… She had given birth and lay there on a cot cradling the infant to her chest, pointedly ignoring the guards in the room.

The woman with the eye patch stood there speaking for a moment before turning to leave, taking the guards with her.

Rose could see the girl trying to maintain her composure in the moments after they left and then their eyes met as the girl looked up and around the room.

They spent a long moment looking at each other and while there was confusion on both sides, there was also some kind of deep recognition, Rose could see her own feelings mirrored in the other woman's face. Rose looked away from her down to the baby in her arms and smiled slightly, she was beautiful.

It was just sad that she had been born in this place, and under circumstances that were so uncertain and scary.

As she looked at the child, Rose felt her eyebrows lift in wonder… This was why she had been so out of control… The baby resonated with her in a way that she hadn't felt since her husband had died… The little mite didn't know how to block her mental transmissions yet.

Rose looked back up to the redheaded woman and tried to figure out how she had had a child that was at least part Time Lord.

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><p>The next month passed too quickly and too slowly at the same time. Rose had no more of the dreams she almost remembered, and she suspected it had something to do with the woman in the next room being conscious.<p>

The baby was left with her mother most of the time, but the armed guards did take her periodically. Rose noticed that the activity on the base they were being held on was increasing in urgency each day and she wished she could understand what was going on outside of her glass cell.

Her meals were transported in once a day and aside from what she could see in the room next door, she had no contact with anyone. Whenever she tried to sense anything outside of the cell, she met with frustrating failure and after the initial spike from the baby; she hadn't sensed anything coming towards her either.

Rose was happy at least that she was getting physically stronger, she spent most of her time pacing the room and usually stayed away from the cot she had been held on for who knew how long.

She had only had one visitor, a young woman from the Gamma Forests. Which was apparently the planet she had been captured on. She hadn't been able to come inside the cell, but she had found a way to speak through a window in the wall opposite of Amy.

The girl had spoken in a low tone, saying that she knew who Rose was and she was sorry that she couldn't do anything to save her. She mentioned the woman next door, confirming that her name was Amy. She also told Rose that she planned to make a prayer leaf for her, with her baby's name on it. Only, she wanted Rose's advise on how exactly it translated in her language, as she didn't speak English, and she wasn't certain what words to use.

Rose frowned as she thought about that for a moment then answered, "Well, 'pond' is a body of water. And 'melody' is music." She smiled at the girl; pleased that even among these people there was someone wanting to perform a simple human act of kindness. "I guess you should just use the words that are closest to those."

That had been several days ago and time was passing with incredible slowness.

Eye patch lady was back, and Rose stood at awareness as Amy was apparently given a moment to say goodbye to her child before it was put in a cradle and taken from the room. Amy turned to look at her and they stood there for a moment, Rose trying to communicate her sympathy with her eyes.

She was frustrated about feeling so helpless and was about to try using Bad Wolf to escape again, but before she had even completely finished that thought the room started filling with white fog. Rose shrank away from it and tried to maintain consciousness as long as possible, her eyes meeting Amy's again right before she hit the ground.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note- Decided on a double update. Nice long chapter since it didn't feel right to break it up in the middle.**

**Don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>Amy watched in concern as the woman in the cell next to hers succumbed to the knockout gas. She was vaguely surprised that she had room in her heart for worry over another person while she grieved for the child that had just been torn from her arms.<p>

The woman Amy remembered from the shores of Lake Silencio laid there in a huddle on the floor as the gas was sucked out of the room and several soldiers entered along with two of the blokes in the hooded cloaks. Three people in the same medical uniforms as those who had been with her while she delivered Melody rolled a clear glass coffin into the room and bundled the woman inside of it. The moment it slid shut, the glass clouded over with white gas and Amy assumed that was to keep her unconscious.

Apparently Amy was losing Melody and her neighbor. She looked over as the door to her own room slid open and felt a moment of fear that she was about to be taken away as well, but the young woman who entered was alone and unarmed.

Amy dismissed her expressions of sympathy, then relented and thanked her for the beautiful embroidered bit of cloth. It was lovely.

She hoped for the girl's sake that she chose the right side when the Doctor got here.

Things happened fast then, and she watched out the window as the Doctor took the base. She only hoped they had gotten there in time to save her baby.

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><p>The Doctor smiled down at little Melody Pond as she lay in his old cot. He felt incredibly relieved to know that he had managed to get here in time to save her. He smiled down at her as Vastra's voice came over the intercom, "Doctor, we need you in the main control room."<p>

He nodded at the disembodied voice, "Be right there! Things to do. I've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave til we know." He smiled at Amy, so glad have her back.

Amy shook her head and looked around, still not quite able to believe everything that had happened, "But this is where I was? The whole time I thought I was on the Tardis, I was really here?" She looked nearly afraid that somehow this would end up all being a dream, that perhaps this happy ending would be snatched away from her.

The Doctor smiled at her reassuringly and looked over her shoulder at Rory, "Er, Centurian, permission to hug?"

Rory answered with a tired smile, "Be aware, I do have a sword."

The Doctor pulled Amelia into his arms and hugged her tightly, so happy to be able to do that. He answered in what he hoped was a reassuring voice, "At all times." He squeezed her more tightly before pulling away and resting a hand on her head, "You were on the Tardis, too. Your heart, your mind, your soul. But physically, yes, you were still in this place."

"And when I saw that face looking through the hatch, that woman with the eye patch looking at me? Or when I remembered the other woman?"

He nodded and patted her back, "Reality bleeding through. They must have taken you quite a while back. Just before America."

"That's probably enough hugging now." Rory came forward and put an arm around his wife, "So her Flesh avatar was with us all that time. But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the Tardis wherever we were in time and space."

The Doctor answered thoughtfully, "Yeah, they're very clever." He was still trying to figure out how they had managed to do that. Very few things could begin to even track the TARDIS, let alone keep a steady open signal with her.

Amy lifted a hand to the one Rory had over her shoulder, "Who are?"

Rory gripped her hand tightly and said in a slightly dangerous voice, "Whoever wants our baby."

"That's what I mean. Why do they want her? Who are they?"

The Doctor smiled at Amy, "Exactly. Got it in one, that is just the question. Brilliant." He noted the brief look of confusion pass her face but looked at Rory as the Roman spoke in an exasperated voice.

"Is there anything you're not telling us? You knew Amy wasn't real. You never said." The man was frustrated and the Doctor knew he had a right to be.

He backed away, needing to be away from the accusing eyes, "Well, I couldn't be sure they weren't listening."

Amy's voice was strained as she answered him, "But you always hold out on us. Please, not this time. Doctor, it's our baby. Tell us something. One little thing."

The Doctor smiled at her and chose to answer her question from earlier, "It's mine." At the look on Rory's face he clarified, "The cot. It's my cot. I slept in there." With that he turned and made his way up to the control room, he had a certain amount of trepidation over what Dorium and Vastra had found up there.

The lift doors opened and he walked in with a question on his lips, "You've hacked into their software, then?"

Dorium's voice was more than a little bit smug as he replied, "I believe I sold it to them."

"Oooh. So what have we learned then?" He was about to go on when Vastra chose that moment to speak.

"That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake." Her voice was uncertain and concerned and he looked at her curiously.

"I'm sorry?"

She smiled thinly, "The words of an old friend who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent tunnel diggers."

He tilted his head to the side as he took another step into the room, wondering what exactly she was getting at. "Well, you were very cross at the time."

She turned her chin a little as she gave a small nod, "As you were today, old friend. Point taken, I hope. Now, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?"

That had not been what he was expecting and he blinked for a second before asking, "Sorry, what? Of course she is. Completely human. What are you talking about?"

It was Dorium who answered, and his voice was not sounding smug any longer, "They've been scanning her since she was born, her and the other captive. Running tests, performing experiments; and I think they found what they were looking for."

The Doctor frowned at that, " Yes, human DNA."

Vastra shook her head and pointed at the screen, "Look closer old friend. Human plus. Specifically, human plus Time Lord."

"But she's human." He took a couple of steps as there was an itch to pace, "I mean, she's Amy and Rory's daughter."

Vastra crossed her arms with a frown, "You've told me about your people. They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The Untempered Schism."

"Over billions of years." He answered in an exasperated voice, "It didn't just happen."

Dorium spoke up, "Well neither did this. It looks like that is part of what they were doing."

"So how close is she?" Vastra gestured to the screen, "Could she even regenerate?"

He shook his head, "No, no. I don't think so." The Doctor was trying to think of how this could possibly happen, he wasn't sure of anything just now, and he was only half listening to what the other two were saying.

Vastra seemed to have picked up on his uncertainty, "You don't sound so sure."

The Doctor turned back to them, "That would be because I don't understand how this happened."

"Which leads me to ask when did it happen?" At the Doctor's confused look, Vastra rolled her eyes. "I am trying to be delicate. I know how you can blush. When did this baby begin?"

"Oh, you mean…" He stuttered to a stop for a moment then wrinkled his nose, "Well, how would I know? That's all human-y, private stuff. It just sort of goes on. They don't put up a balloon, or anything."

Vastra sounded more exasperated as he seemed to not catch what she was asking, "But could the child have begun on the Tardis in flight, in the vortex."

"What?! No! No! Impossible! It's all running about, sexy fish vampires and blowing up stuff. And Rory wasn't even there at the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then I had to reboot the whole universe. Long story. So, technically the first time they were on the Tardis together in this version of reality, was on their…"

"On their what Doctor?" Vastra's voice had picked up an almost mocking quality as he found the conclusion to this part of the puzzle of Melody Pond.

"On their wedding night." He spun around and started pacing in earnest; not bothering to listen to the rest of what Dorium was trying to say. "It doesn't make sense. You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord."

Vastra shook her head, "Of course not. But you gave them one hell of a start, and they've been working very hard ever since. The scans, the experiments."

Dorium broke into the conversation again, and he sounded nervous, "And yet they gave in so easily. Does this not that bother anyone else?"

The Doctor closed his eyes as he brought his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Amy. She worried the baby would have a time head. She said that."

"Only you would ignore the instincts of a mother." Vastra shook her head and turned back to the computer screen as Dorium interrupted them again.

"Or the instincts of a coward." He looked up and met her eyes, "This is too easy. There's something wrong."

"Why even do it?" The Doctor frowned to himself as he looked at the screen without really seeing it. "Even if you could get your hands on a brand new Time Lord, what for?"

Vastra lifted her brows, "A weapon?"

"What? Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?" He started to shake his head at her response.

"Well, they've seen you." She looked at Dorium and nodded, "Mister Maldovar, you're right. This was too easy. We should get back to the others."

The Doctor hardly noticed them leaving as he continued to think about her words, "Me?" He shook his head, but felt a coldness seep into him as he realized that she was right. This was his fault. All of it.

Kovarian's voice interrupted his thoughts as her face popped up on the monitor. "I see you accessed our files. Do you understand yet? Oh, don't worry, I'm a long way away. But I like to keep tabs on you. The child, then. What do you think?"

His voice was a little hoarse as he asked, "What is she?"

The woman smiled tightly, "Hope. Hope in this endless, bitter war."

"What war?" The Doctor shook his head to try to deny what he suspected she was saying, "Against who?"

Madame Kovarian's smile tightened further, her expression cold and matter of fact, "Against you, Doctor."

The Doctor shook his head in disgust, "A child is not a weapon!"

"Oh, give us time Doctor." The woman's voice dripped with disdain at his shock, "She can be. She will be."

"Except you've already lost her, and I swear I will never let you anywhere near her again." The Doctor felt the coldness in his limbs intensify as she smiled in response to his words.

"Oh, Doctor. Fooling you once was a joy, but fooling you twice the same way? It's a privilege." The video feed stopped and the Doctor ran from the room to get to Amy.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note- Thanks so much for reading, I hope everyone continues to enjoy the story.**

**I don't own much of anything, certainly not Doctor Who.**

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><p>The dreams started again, only this time Amy wasn't the one keeping her company. Rose realized distantly that this woman, with frizzy blond hair and a wide smile was the baby, as much sense as that made.<p>

Still, she knew that in a way they were real and she hoped that their time together helped the child resist what these monsters were doing to her.

They talked about many things, mostly the girl's parents. Rose told her everything she remembered from her time with Amy, over and over, trying to help. They both knew that River wouldn't remember the things they spoke about, but hoped it helped to have the knowledge in her subconscious just the same.

It was difficult to tell how much time actually passed, considering Rose was kept in a medically induced coma and Melody was being artificially aged, but it felt like eons.

Rose told River that the Doctor had come for her, and her smile was tinged with sadness and perhaps a slight shade of envy as she told her that she knew she became the Doctor's wife.

She didn't tell her the details, no matter how the other woman pressed, but the story John had told her of what happened in the Library was burned into her mind. She tried not to be so petty, she knew the Doctor was nearly a thousand years old, but it was still difficult.

River knew who Rose was by this point, and it would probably seem strange to someone on the outside, but the two of them were drawn so close by being trapped in this place, that the fact they both loved the same man seemed to take a back seat in their friendship.

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><p>Rose woke to the sound of a child crying. She opened her eyes, her memory of her last few moments of consciousness returning. She remembered then that there had been several times she almost fought her way awake, but was always prevented or killed.<p>

It was something of a mystery that this time, she was allowed to gain complete awareness.

She was no longer in the room beside Amy, and she no longer had the freedom to move around. She inhaled and became aware that she was on earth… Finally, she was on her own earth, back where she belonged. Just not in a way that did her any good.

The only thing she could see was the ceiling, and she realized she strapped to some kind of contraption that had needles and electrodes all over her body. She could feel them pinching her and she pulled against them ineffectively.

There was something she should know… Something she was struggling with and it dawned on her that she was still under the effects of whatever drug she had been given to keep her in a sustained state of unconsciousness. There was a noise from her left and then; a space suit of all things came into view.

The mask of the spacesuit slid back, revealing the frightened face of a little girl, the child she had heard crying. She realized then that she hadn't heard the child out loud, it had been in her head.

Rose felt the heat of Bad Wolf building as the confusion and fear she was feeling came together to form outright panic.

A strange detached sort of calm descended on her, and with it that clarity that only came in these times.

Bad Wolf sat up, the restraints disintegrating and falling away from her. She looked at the child, and the part of her that was Rose Tyler felt deep pain at what had been done to her and what was still ahead. The child was bleeding, but regeneration was close. She just needed a push.

She stood and waved her hand at the girl and the spacesuit sagged to the ground empty.

Closing her eyes and sagging against the bed, Rose gained a little more control of herself as she scanned the situation.

The Doctor was upstairs… Along with not-Amy and the baby's father. They were running. Rose opened her eyes. It was the Silence.

With a thought she stood where the Silence had been and he was reduced to so much dust. The man that it had been speaking to was struggling now, against the compulsion it had put upon him.

Time was running out and she felt the peculiar weight that a fixed point held. She expended some energy and time slowed just enough, the room filling with the familiar golden haze. She heard his thoughts as he wondered if that was what was happening.

"That is what it's doing. Kind of." She focused and his name came to her, "Mr. Delaware, I am sorry that there isn't time to explain much." She lifted a hand as he opened his mouth to speak and he closed it. Waiting. "Thank you. Listen, you have to trust the Doctor. He is the only hope for earth. That whisper in the back of your mind about killing them? Keep acting like you believe it and will follow it without question. They can't know we talked. But trust him, no matter how crazy his plan seems."

He shook his head, fear and doubt apparent on his face. "How? I don't know how to do that, I didn't even remember them until you said that."

She nodded and winced, bloody hell but this hurt. "I know. But this is gonna help you. You won't really remember this either. But it will keep that corner of your mind safe. Help you resist. It's not much, but it's all I can do."

Rose used the last of her energy to go then, knowing she couldn't let the Doctor find her yet. It wasn't time.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's note- Yay a double update! Updates will slow after this, real life calls so no more daily updates. Should progress at a couple of chapters a week now.**

**Happy reading. :)**

**I still don't own anything.**

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><p>Bollocks that had been a bad idea. Rose groaned as she woke up, trying and failing to sit. She settled for rolling over onto her side.<p>

"Look! She's awake!" There was the sound of a weapon charging and Rose blearily opened her eyes to try to see who had spoken.

A second voice, this one deeper and bearing an American accent said quickly, "Don't try moving to fast sweetheart. You seem to be pretty out of it."

The voice had the opposite effect on her as she sat up quickly to try to see him. There was a wave of dizziness and she leaned over and threw up. There hadn't been anything of actual substance in her stomach in a long time, and all that came up was bile, but it was still damn unpleasant.

"There, there. Shoulda listened to me huh?" A hand patted her lightly on the back.

"Don't you think you should keep your distance from the anomaly there, Boe?" The other man asked, his voice sounding chiding.

Rose lifted a hand to wipe her mouth and looked over her shoulder as her equilibrium returned somewhat. "Jack?"

The familiar face was there, but completely lacked recognition. He raised an eyebrow at her as he smiled crookedly and stood away from her. "Sorry?"

She shook her head and looked between the two men slowly. If this was a Jack before she knew him, it was a Jack who didn't have much in the way of a moral compass. "Nothing… Just leftover from my dream I guess." She shifted a little so she could see the gun the one she didn't recognize had trained on her. "Sorry to babble." The gun followed as she got to her knees. "We have problems mate? I'm really not sure what I would have done to piss of the Time Agency." She smiled a little, "Not yet anyway."

Jack's partner grinned at her, "Ooh, she knows who we are."

Rose sat back down on her heels and sighed, that wasn't really an answer. There was a sudden sound from nearby and Jack reached down to grab her arm and pull her to her feet. "This is really not the best location for this conversation."

They started to walk, and Rose felt her head start to spin again. "I'm sorry, I think I might be sick again."

She closed her eyes and took slow deep breaths, trying not to throw up as she felt her legs swept out from under her and they kept moving.

It was a relatively short time later that they went through the door of a seedy motel room and Jack set Rose down carefully on one of the beds.

"Now, you seem to be pretty out of it, but don't get any ideas. This is a compact laser deluxe." Jack's partner sat in one of the chairs and kept the gun pointed at her as Jack leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

Rose made sure to keep her hands visible and took stock of her situation. She could tell that her energy was tapped out, that empty feeling in the corner of her mind that usually held Bad Wolf indicating that she had overextended herself back at that base. She was surprised to see that she hadn't even healed herself in that last burst. The red welts left by the machine they used on her were still crisscrossing her arms and what she could see of her skin that wasn't covered by the burns was either bruised or unnaturally pale.

That was probably a good thing she thought as she stole a glance at Jack. Unless this was during his two years of lost memories, the fact that she looked like she had been through the wringer must keep him from recognizing her when he met her… Meets her… Damn tenses.

The two men seemed to be waiting for her to speak and she cleared her throat, "So… I don't suppose you know where I am?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at his companion, "1969, Florida, Earth."

"Huh." She absently scratched at the back of her hand where an iv had been attached to her. She wondered where the little girl had ended up. She looked up then, realizing that the two men seemed to be arguing about something in low voices. "I don't suppose you're going to shoot me if I get a drink of water?"

The man put his gun on the table and shook his head, "No, go ahead."

She nodded and stood carefully, moving towards the bathroom. A plan was starting to form in her mind, and the fact that a couple of Time Agents had turned up right at the time she was without transportation was actually pretty damn convenient.

When she got back to the room and sat on the edge of one of the beds she looked at them matter of factly. "So what exactly do you two want with me?"

Jack stepped over and sat on the bed across from her, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees to talk to her. "Well, considering you know who we are, I am going to be straight with you." He flashed her a grin and she knew what she was about to hear was really only part of the truth. "There was an anomaly, one consistent with anachronistic weapons fire. When we got to the location, there you were. Looking like you were on the losing end of a heck of a fight."

Rose chewed on her lower lip; it was hard not to want to trust Jack. He was one of her best friends after all. She looked sideways at his partner and decided that she didn't quite like the way he looked at her. "I um…" She decided that partial truth might be the way to go, "I was being held somewhere, I don't really know why, but they took me on my way home from work… A little over a century from now… In London."

"You don't know why they wanted you? Do you know what they were doing to you?" Jack's partner had holstered his gun and came to stand next to where Jack was sitting.

She shook her head, "Not really, no. I was unconscious most of the time." His gun was right there, and she weighed the chances of her managing to get it and subdue the both of them. Her eyes shot to Jack and she wondered if she could shoot him.

Deciding that she didn't really have a choice, her hand darted out as she stood. She gripped the gun with one hand and with her other she knocked Jack's partner off of his feet and back onto the bed. Without looking, her finger flicked the control on the gun from kill to stun and pointed it at Jack who had started to stand.

"Don't." She lifted an eyebrow as she backed away from them. "Keep your hands where I can see them, and I won't stun you. You know what a hell of a headache that causes."

Jack sighed and sat back, keeping his hands up. "So, not being held and experimented on then?"

Rose waited while Jack's partner sat up and set his hands on his knees where she could see them. She answered Jack's question, "Actually that was true. And I am sorry about this, really. Someday we'll have a pint and talk about what happened here. Just not today."

She pulled the trigger and Jack's partner sagged back, unconscious. Jack raised his eyebrows, "Thought you said you wouldn't stun us."

"Remove both of your vortex manipulators and toss them over here." She waited while he followed her instructions then she asked, "Would you rather be stunned or restrained? I'll let you choose."

Jack smiled slightly, "Well when a beautiful woman offers to tie me up, I have a hard time saying no."

Rose laughed at that, "God I love you. Seriously, you're incorrigible. You have handcuffs or something?"

"Nah. We prefer to just stun people we need to take in alive." Jack had lowered his hands and was looking at her strangely. "You know me, don't you?"

"Sorry sweetie, spoilers." She moved closer and picked up one of the vortex manipulators. "Just stay over there while I program this, and I promise not to stun you too."

"You know, the last person you said that to is drooling on the bed next to me." He grinned and crossed his legs at the ankles, "That does damage your credibility a bit."

"I suppose you have a point." She fastened the manipulator around the wrist of the hand holding the gun and looked at his partner appraisingly, "Don't suppose –he- has a sonic blaster from Villengard too?"

Jack looked at the unconscious man then at her, "Yeah. He has one."

Rose pointed at him with the gun, "I would like it please." She looked at Jack again, "And your coat."

With a shrug he gingerly gripped the weapon by the handle and tossed it on the bed between them, then shrugged out of his coat. He tossed that on the bed as well and looked at Rose questioningly, "Don't suppose you want my pants too? Maybe all our money?"

She shook her head, "Nope. I'm good." Seeing no way around it, she stunned him and sighed. She felt a little bit bad for lying, but figured he would forgive her. She shrugged into his coat and put both of the guns away in her pockets. That done she looked at the vortex manipulator and tried to decide where to go.

In the end there was really only one option that made sense.

She needed her things, her sonic and her wedding ring. But first she would need some clothes and a shower. She thought about what her Doctor had said about going back to her mum's flat after Canary Wharf and aimed for just after he'd have left.

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><p><strong>Second author's note- Don't worry, Jack will be back. Just couldn't resist squeezing him in early.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's note- Thank you so much for following or favoriting, and thanks so much to those who take the time to review.**

**Happy reading.**

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>It felt a little strange to be sneaking around in the flat she'd grown up in, but she knew she had to be careful. Even after the confusion of the battle of Canary Wharf, people would be paying at least a little bit of attention.<p>

She had arrived late at night and had been careful not to turn on lights or make any noise as she moved through the flat, aiming for the comfort of her own bed. She had slept until late the next afternoon and it was amazing how rejuvenated she felt just from that.

After a long hot shower, she had gotten dressed in clean clothes that had belonged to her so long ago and had cooked herself dinner in the tiny kitchen. As she sat drinking her tea in the kitchen her mum had been in less than 48 hours ago, she finally couldn't take it anymore.

Rose dropped her face to her hands and wept. She wasn't sure she would be able to say exactly what she was crying about, but it seemed to be the only way to deal with the enormity of everything that had happened to her.

It was evening when she stood and moved to pick up the bag she had packed. She needed to track down the place she had been held, and in order to do that she would need intel. She had packed up the few bits and bobs she had picked up for her mother in her years of traveling; happy in that moment that the Doctor had always let her buy whatever she had taken a fancy to. Some of these were incredibly valuable and her 19-year-old self had had no idea.

Feeling comfortable and relatively at peace for the first time since she had arrived in her home universe, Rose engaged the vortex manipulator and set off to go shopping.

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><p>The Doctor had very nearly died today. It had been ages since he could honestly say something like that. He thought of River, where he had left her at the hospital and he thought of Amy and Rory, who had retreated to their bedroom.<p>

He had had the feeling, ever since Utah, that he was missing something. There had been missed clues for ages, clues about the Silence.

There was something else though.

The Doctor looked at the object in his hand and frowned at it. It was a slim band, sliver in color, with the intricate and flowing script that he rarely saw anymore. It was always something special to see his language in writing, the beauty of it something he was rarely treated to from a source other than himself.

She had said her name was Lorna, and it was to his shame that she had remembered him so clearly and he had not remembered her. She had died for him, for his friends, and she had been kind. He had found out later about the prayer leaf from which River Song took her name.

Right now though he was looking at the item she had pressed into his hand before she died. He hadn't even looked at it at the time, so caught up in the realization that he had failed so abysmally. He wouldn't be looking at it now if it weren't for today.

He remembered now. He remembered having her returned to him for a few shining moments, then she was gone. He remembered what had happened and wondered at the fact that his mind had managed to block that from him.

He should have known that his impending death would be enough to bring her back. She had crossed the void before; she had always proven herself someone who would fight to the very end for him. It wasn't fair, he thought, that he had had to leave her behind. But he had known what was coming; he knew that River Song was his wife.

When the metacrisis had been created, he knew what was supposed to happen. It had nearly killed him, it was part of what had turned him into the man he was now, the man who was willing to do anything if it meant not having time to think.

He tossed the ring in the air and caught it lightly before tucking it back into his pocket. How had a young woman from the Gamma Forests come across a Time Lord wedding band? It certainly was a mystery. Rose hadn't been wearing it when he had seen her, and she had been very closed mouthed about how she had come to be where she was and what had been happening in her life.

The Doctor walked slowly to the console and thought about what had happened, what his TARDIS had had the cheek to show him in the moments leading up to his death. At least she hadn't spoken, he wasn't sure he could have taken her voice coldly speaking of his impending death.

He had seen the words a few times. He had seen her on this, the day he almost died. He thought he might have missed other clues… Little things that he now remembered just enough of to wonder.

Bad Wolf.

Rose Tyler.

It was only fitting that he got to see her again before he died, and truly it was just like the universe to show him how he was always meant to lose her one more time before it ended him completely.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note- So the last chapter sorta worked out a little shorter than I wanted, here's a nice long one to make up for that.**

**So, in answer to a couple of reviews, I wanted to clarify something, this is 8. Sorry I wasn't overly clear on that. :( If this is your first time reading this chapter, that statement will make sense in a few paragraphs. **

**I still don't own Doctor Who.**

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><p>Rose had hit a couple of markets. Shan Shen, the Camden Market… She had lucked out once. Her jacket with it's bigger on the inside pockets had been something she didn't think she would run across again.<p>

Now she was at the Frenko Bazaar and negotiating for a small sonic tool. It wasn't a sonic screwdriver, not nearly. And it certainly wasn't as special as –her- sonic screwdriver, which had been programmed for psychic control for her particular brain pattern.

It would work though; since it was the closest she had found so far and was therefore her only option. This wanker seemed to have an issue with her though, and considering she had spent the last few weeks regaining her control over Bad Wolf, she didn't want to risk trouble by trying to find out why.

She was ready to growl in frustration, but settled for slamming the item she was holding down on the display case again, "This is worth twice what you are offering, and you know it!" She leaned closer and met his eyes before pitching her voice low enough that it wouldn't be heard by passerby. "You know the only place these come from, do you really want to argue with someone who managed to get one?"

The shopkeeper let out a series of grunts and growls that had her standing up straight so fast she looked like she'd been jabbed with a hot poker. She felt her hand jerk towards her pocket on it's own accord and stopped the action reluctantly. A weapon would not help this conversation.

"That because I'm human or because I'm female?" Her eyes had narrowed dangerously, but the alien in front of her seemed unmoved. She opened her mouth to speak again, when she was interrupted by a strange voice that for some reason had her heart leaping into her throat.

"Actually, it's your hair. His species has an incredible aversion to blondes." The man smiled as he stepped to the counter and in a ridiculously short period of time he had bought the device and turned from the shop. He looked over his shoulder at her and lifted an eyebrow, "You are coming aren't you?"

Rose threw a glare at the shopkeeper before following the Doctor at a slow trot. Once she had fallen into step beside him, he tossed the device sideways to her and she snatched it out of the air. She held it in her hand for a moment, shooting him a sidelong glance. "Thank you."

The Doctor smiled down at her and she couldn't help smiling back, his voice was wry as he responded flippantly, "Well, I have always had a weakness for blondes."

She let out a surprised laugh at that and shook her head as she tucked the sonic device into her pocket. She held out the device she had been trying to trade for it and lifted an eyebrow, "Would you like this then? It's only fair."

He held a hand to his chest in mock pain, "My dear, to reduce our encounter to one of such terms, to a mere mercantile exchange! You wound me."

Shaking her head again she gestured towards a small pub, "A drink then, to say thank you." There was an uncomfortable moment while he looked at her uncertainly and she realized her mistake, "Not like that." She smiled and patted him on the arm, "Don't worry, I'm safely married."

"In that case then, a drink would be lovely." He held out his arm, pleased when she hooked her arm through his elbow. They walked into the establishment and settled at a table against the wall. The pub was strangely slow for this busy section of the bazaar; only three other tables were occupied. He looked across at her and tried to put his finger on what about her was so familiar. Now that he was sitting here, actually looking at her, he picked up on something he hadn't noticed before. She wasn't a simple human, she reeked of time energy, it practically dripped off of her.

As she went to the bar and got their drinks, he tried to decide how exactly a human would end up with that level of energy saturation. He itched to run a scan, and wondered how he might be able to do so without her realizing what he was doing.

Rose sat down and fidgeted absently with her pint. She knew this was dangerous and stupid, but she was impulsive sometimes. She really felt that she just couldn't help it. She wondered where he was in his time line, but knew it would be dangerous and stupid to try to find out. More stupid even then what she was already doing.

She took a drink then cleared her throat, "So. What is it you do when you aren't off rescuing blondes from cross shopkeepers?"

"Well that's human all over, ask what I do before asking my name." He smiled and took a drink before gesturing with his cup and sloshing some over the side. "That's all I do actually, wander around time and space looking for blondes being harassed by angry alien retailers. I'm the Doctor by the way."

"Just the Doctor?" Rose smiled as she asked the question, and watched some of the suspicion she had noticed from him leak away, some but not all. "I'm Marion."

"Marion? That's a lovely name." The Doctor pushed his glass to the side and leaned forward with his arms crossed on the table, "So what does a time agent need with that little sonic tool? Most time agents I've run across seem to think a blaster is all they need."

Rose frowned, "Time agent? I'm not a… Oh." She patted her vortex manipulator, "You mean this. I'm not a time agent. I just sort of… Borrowed this." At his look of mild reproof she lifted an eyebrow, "You disapprove Doctor?"

He grinned and leaned back, "Not at all, I am quite a fan of borrowed transportation myself. I simply disapprove of the technology. Certainly not the most efficient way to travel the vortex."

"You have a better way then?" Rose felt a little ache at what she knew was coming, he was going to invite her, she could tell. And she would have to say no. "Because I will agree, time travel without a capsule is complete rubbish. However, we do have to work with what we've got sometimes."

The Doctor inclined his head and tossed back the rest of his drink. "You do have a point Miss Marion." He stood and held out his hand to her, "Would you like to see it?"

Rose chewed on her lip for a moment as she deliberated. She –did- want to see it… She laid her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet. Just seeing the TARDIS, saying hello, that wouldn't hurt too much.

They reached the blue box and Rose couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at the sight. She let go of the Doctor's hand and moved to put both hands on the wooden surface. "Oh, but she's lovely."

He was smiling strangely as he walked up to lean on the outside of the TARDIS, "I certainly think so." He knocked on the wood and asked with a raised eyebrow, "Would you like to see inside?"

With a sigh, Rose stepped away. She could feel the TARDIS's sense of disappointment at losing contact and smiled at that. She looked at the Doctor then and shook her head sadly; she knew she couldn't actually lie to him. She had never been able to do that. "I'm sorry, but I think we both know I shouldn't."

"Yes, I suspected as much." The Doctor nodded slowly and pulled out his TARDIS key and spun it around on it's chain, "So how is it exactly that I know you?"

Rose turned and leaned back against the box next to him, leaning her head back against the wood and enjoyed the welcoming feeling that washed over her. "What's the deal then? If I tell you, you'll just forget? It gets locked up inside your head until it's safe?"

The Doctor inclined his head to indicate that she was right, "You do seem awfully well informed. Are we very close?"

She turned to look at him and smiled softly, "Someday, yeah."

He pushed away from the TARDIS and gestured to the doors, "I promise that the universe won't implode if you step inside, we can have a cup of tea and you can tell me how you came to be wandering alien market places and mugging time agents."

"That would actually be really nice." Rose followed him through the doors and gasped, "Oh your console room is gorgeous!" She looked down at the polished wood floors and ran her hand along the console itself. "I know she changes, but it's still always surprising."

The Doctor leaned against the closed door and watched as she took in the room, enjoying the pleasure on her face. "You've seen more than one console room then?"

Nodding slowly she tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "I have seen a few." She moved back to lean against the console. "For a while I was using a dimension cannon and my TARDIS key to try to find you. Came across a few different versions. Never this you though."

Leading the way down the hallway the Doctor made his way to the kitchen, contemplating the mystery of this young woman. He knew that even with locking the memories away, they would have to be careful, but he found that the possibility of this young woman being important to him someday made the things he had experienced, the people he had lost, a little bit easier to bear.

After following him into the kitchen, she moved past him and set about making tea. He dropped into one of the chairs and watched her, both pleased and a little nervous at her apparent familiarity with the TARDIS kitchen. He looked forward to the explanation that was coming, even if it would be incomplete and he would have to forget it.

Rose sat down after fixing them each a cup of tea, sending a silent thanks to the TARDIS when she had been pointed to the sugar cubes when she wondered how this Doctor liked his tea. She sipped hers black and set the cup down. "So, Doctor. When did you know?"

He smiled appreciatively after a drink of his tea and nodded slowly, "Yes, I suppose you would wonder that. Are you aware of how you appear to a Timelord's senses? You practically reek of the vortex. How did that happen?"

"Leave it to you to ask one of the few questions I really can't answer specifically." She pursed her lips thoughtfully as she tried to decide how to put it, "At some point after I met you, I was exposed to the vortex. Like the pure vortex, and you can't go trying to prevent it. It's a massive fixed point, with literally hundreds more stemming from that one."

The Doctor frowned slightly, "And it is one you think I would try to prevent?"

She shrugged and took a drink before answering, "Knowing you, yeah. Not always big on following the rules." She sighed and turned the cup around in her hands, "Too much is at stake though, you know how it is. Can't change one thing without a massive ripple effect."

After pondering her words for a moment he asked, "Do you regret it? Whatever happened that you think I would change."

Rose shook her head emphatically. "No. I would make the same decision, no matter what." She smiled slightly and lifted an eyebrow, "Does that actually matter to this you?"

He tilted his head to the side and thought about her question. It was obvious that she had tried to make it sound like a joke, but it was also obvious that it really wasn't. "Yes…" He answered slowly, "I would say that your choice matters."

She treated him to a wide smile, "Well that's good then. Thank you."

The Doctor couldn't help returning the smile. He asked his next question, "What's your name?"

"Ah… Another tricky one. You are you, aren't you?" She rapped the tips of her fingers on the table for a moment. "My name is Marion, that's not a complete lie, but it's also not a complete truth I suppose." She caught her tongue between her teeth as she smiled, "I am beginning to see what it's like being you, talking in half truths and misdirection. I can't tell you my name. Wrong words, wrong time… You know."

"Yes, I suppose that I do know that, quite well." He leaned back in his seat, "All right, next question." He smiled at her, "Where would you like to go?"

Rose frowned, but he could see in her eyes that she wanted to say yes. "I don't think that's a good idea Doctor."

"No, of course it's not a –good- idea, but don't you think it's the best one you've heard in ages?" He answered her grin with his own and they raced to the console room hand in hand.

He was going to forget all this anyway, so what could it hurt?


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note- So... I have no real excuse for how long it has taken me to update. I have been REALLY caught up in the new Dragon Age, which is awesome BTW. So here is a nice long chapter, thanks for all of the follows and favorites and reviews. Safari is being a bit of a jerk about the private messaging function, so sorry if I haven't been able to respond to your reviews. I will keep trying to make it work. **

**It should be said, that yes. This is the eighth Doctor. I should have been more clear about that. Apologies.**

**I own nothing. Thank you for reading.**

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><p>Rose followed the Doctor down the street, cursing as she ran to catch up to him. When she got to where he had stopped at the mouth of an alley, she leaned against the wall for a moment trying to catch her breath.<p>

"Why is it that you never seem to have to change clothes when we leave the TARDIS?" Her voice dropped to a deeper imitation of a northern burr that he thought must be her attempt at imitating a future version of himself, "Well I changed my jumper!" She pushed off the wall and took a couple of steps closer to him so she could see what had made him take off that way, "And why in the name of all that is sacred and holy do corsets exist? It's like a bloody torture device."

He looked up at her and couldn't help smiling; she made quite the picture with her cheeks flushed and her hat askew. And he could not deny that the corset did do… Things… He cleared his throat and pulled out his sonic, pointing it at the bins. "There is something here that shouldn't be."

She frowned at that, his voice seemed oddly strained but she dismissed it as concern, "You mean aside from us?" She breathed a little bit more, her hand pressed to her chest. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to scan for alien stuff –before- we got out of the TARDIS."

The Doctor stood and looked at the wall of the alley. "You know, it could actually." He bent again and pointed the screwdriver at a spot on the ground and activated it. "Some technology has a serious aversion to being scanned."

Rose rolled her eyes and then turned in a circle as a deep rumbling sounded. "Doctor?" She smiled then, it had been weeks of traveling, and that still wasn't getting old. He stood up and moved to stand back to back with her as they scanned the alley while the rumbling increased.

"Well that is fascinating." They stopped when the rumbling did, and looked at the stairs that led down from an opening in the brick wall. "I wonder where it goes…" He scanned the opening with his sonic and peered down into the darkness.

"Really only one way to find out." Rose moved past him and then looked over her shoulder. "That sonic have a torch setting?"

In answer he activated it and preceded her down the stairs. He smiled as she continued her earlier complaints about clothes.

"Seriously Doctor, I have only seen you change your outfit completely once. And even then you kept the chucks." She smiled at the memory, even though it had been painful, it was still part of one of the best times in her life. "Although, you did look smashing in a bowtie. I do have to admit that."

"A bowtie? Really?" He glanced over his shoulder at her with a lifted eyebrow.

"And that is so much worse than decorative celery? Or a cravat in the late 1990's?" She stuck her tongue out at him, "Bowties are cool." She sighed, as the stairs seemed to go on endlessly. "You know, Victorian era women's wear was –not- made for adventuring."

He shook his head and looked back ahead, "Are you saying you don't like my cravat?"

"Not at all Doctor." She risked her life and leaned forward in the high-heeled boots to pat his shoulder, it turned into more of a grip as she stumbled a bit and he turned to catch her, and they ended up against the wall as he gripped her to him by the waist. She coughed and smiled a little. "You pull it off quite nicely actually."

"Thank you." He held her to him for a moment longer then set her carefully back on her feet. His reactions to her made him nervous and excited all at the same time, and he wondered again what exactly the nature of their future relationship was. He also had to wonder about her offhanded statement when they had met, about her being married. She had seemed as alone as he was when he met her, the kind of loneliness that made her sure to say yes to his invitation. He wondered if she would answer him if he asked about it.

Perhaps when they got back to the TARDIS and she wasn't grumpy about the corset. They continued down the stairs, and this time Rose was silently descending behind him. He found he rather missed her chatter. Humans were a funny lot, even human-plus, as she apparently was.

The stairs finally ended and they were in a long narrow corridor that appeared to be made up of the same stone as the stairs. They walked a short distance before Rose stopped him with a hand on his arm, "Doctor? Is there a perception filter on the walls?"

He stopped and turned the sonic on the walls with a frown, "You know, I do believe you are right." He ran the screwdriver along the wall and in it's wake a streak of it turned a smooth metallic gray, it reverted after a moment and he frowned.

"It's a strong one to continue affecting us, even with us knowing it's there." Rose ran her hand along the wall as she spoke, and turned to look at the Doctor. Her hand itched for her own sonic and she sighed with discontent. She closed her eyes and focused on seeing things as they were, opening them and not noticing the Doctor take half a step back in alarm. She smiled and turned to him, "I can see it now, as it should be. Do you see it all right?"

The Doctor nodded shortly and looked at her in concern. "Marion, how did you do that?"

She looked at him solemnly, "I disabled the filter. Not in a very sophisticated way either, I am afraid they will know." She shook her head and gripped her hands together tightly. "When I got back to this universe… There were experiments. It's made it more difficult to control… The thing… That I can do." She twisted her lips in a strained smile, "Sorry. I know that it is incredibly frustrating to not know everything…"

"I suppose it can't be helped." He answered her smile even though the strange glow that was slowly fading from her eyes unnerved him, "I get the impression you wouldn't keep it from me if you didn't think the universe would explode." He reached over to her and pulled her into a hug, knocking the still crooked hat completely off.

"Rose." She pressed her face into his neck and sighed. "Please just call me Rose, I don't think the reapers will come just cause of my name."

He toyed with the ends of her hair that had fallen out of it's upswept bun briefly, enjoying the texture of it before pulling away and smiling down into her face, "Rose it is then, it suits you better." He brought a hand up to her cheek, rubbing his thumb along her temple. "I promise to forget."

"I wish you didn't have to." She put her hand on top of his and pressed it to her tightly before pulling away from him and starting down the hallway again. Now that the perception filter had been disabled, there was a low ambient light. It was wonderful to be here with him, but it also hurt because she knew what was coming for him and she knew she couldn't stay.

The Doctor followed closely behind Rose, getting a sense of what she was thinking. He thought that it was interesting that he was picking up on her emotions and thoughts now, so soon after she had used her abilities. It lent credence to her theory about the experiments making it difficult to control completely. It also caused a slow anger to start to build within him at the thought that someone had done that to her.

They reached the end of the hallway finally, and frowned up the ladder that went up as far as they could see.

Rose grunted and stepped back, "That's it, I am taking off at least part of this get up." She pulled the dress down over her shoulders and started struggling with the corset. She looked up at the Doctor where he stood; looking like someone had struck him dumb. She lifted an eyebrow, "Oi, don't just stand there, help me with this thing. I am –not- climbing that ladder with my ribcage constricted to some archaic idea of what's bloody attractive."

She turned her back to him, and he cleared his throat before lifting his hands towards her. He thought better of it then and pulled out his sonic, flicking it to the correct setting and pointing it at the laces.

As the corset fell away she pulled the dress back up over the chemise she had been wearing under it and looked at him with laughter in her eyes, "Of course that thing has a corset removal setting, shoulda figured." She gestured to the ladder, "Well, on with you then. Not letting you go after me and look up my dress the whole way."

"Right then… Upward and onward." The Doctor started up the ladder and heard the sound of Rose's shoes on the rungs below him as she followed. "You do realize that I have far too much dignity to be sneaking glances under your skirts."

Rose looked up at him as he climbed above her; she smiled slightly and shook her head. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

They climbed in silence for a long while and Rose was happy that she had had some time since her captivity to build her physical stamina back up. They had to have climbed as far up on this ladder as they had climbed down on the stairs, and finally it ended with a hatch above them.

The Doctor soniced the lock on the hatch and climbed out, turning to grasp Rose's arms and help her up off of the ladder. She looked around as he scanned the room with his sonic, "So where are we then?"

He looked sideways at her with a smile, "Still in Victorian London is my guess." His smile widened as she rolled her eyes and he slowly ran the sonic up into the corner of the room and lights came on.

Rose spun in a slow circle, taking in the room they had arrived in, "It looks like a restoration room, like in a museum."

"You spend a lot of time in museums Rose?" The Doctor moved over to a table that had pieces of a stone tablet spread across it.

With a shrug Rose answered in a nonchalant voice, "My dad was the wealthiest man in the world for a while, I ended up at lot's of charity things in museums." She stopped in front of an Egyptian sarcophagus and frowned, she continued in an offhand voice, "Snuck away from lot's of charity things in museums too. Dead boring most of the time."

She wished again for her sonic, but pulled out the sonic tool the Doctor had helped her acquire. It did have some rudimentary scanning capabilities and she opened it, looking at the readout as she ran it over the room she started out the door. There were traces of –something- on the sarcophagus and they were stronger as she left the room.

The Doctor had stayed behind looking at the scraps of stone on the table and she had gotten several meters away when she heard the sounds of a struggle and a grunt of pain. She ran back to the restoration room and stopped in the doorway, looking around. The room was empty; the Doctor was gone.

Rose lifted her skirt carefully, glad that she had made sure the Doctor didn't see the blaster she had strapped to her leg. She drew the gun and let her skirt fall back to the ground as she moved slowly into the room. She held the gun at the ready with the scanner in one hand and the gun in the other. She approached the table and looked at the bits of stone that were scattered across it and onto the ground where the Doctor had apparently struggled with whoever had taken him.

With a sigh, Rose cleared the room. There was no trace of where the Doctor was or what might have taken him. She shook her head in frustration as she walked out into the corridor, "Victorian London he said. Arthur Conan Doyle he says. It'll be fun he says! Bloody alien git."

When morning came, Rose realized that it was definitely not the time to be found wandering the British Museum alone without permission. She hid inside of a broom closet on the main floor and hid until she was sure they had been opened for a couple of hours and she wouldn't be noticed slipping out. She had searched for hours, and found absolutely nothing that indicated where he might be and what might have taken him.

It was time to face the fact that she was going to need some help. She had tidied her appearance as much as possible, and then she slipped out of the cupboard and joined a small group of tourists as they perused some of the displays.

As soon as she could do so without suspicion, she moved away from the group and left the museum. She walked down the street, moving with the flow of foot traffic and trying to decide what to do. Stupid vanity had made her leave off her vortex manipulator because it interfered with the way her sleeve fit and she no longer had her TARDIS key so going back to the space ship would do her little good.

She had in her possession, her sonic blaster, the scanning tool, psychic paper and the clothes on her back. Rose stopped when she realized she had wandered onto a rather deserted residential street and leaned against a light post for a moment as she tried to get her bearings. Seeing no one nearby, she moved to sit on a nearby bench and pulled out the scanner.

Maybe she could scan for alien tech –outside- of the museum.

Keeping an eye out for passerby, she activated the scanner and keyed in her command. Her frustration over not having her sonic renewed as she slammed the scanner back against the bench. Damn thing wasn't even picking up the blaster right by it.

Rose lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of her nose as she took slow and deep breaths, struggling for control of her emotions. Unleashing a completely uncontrolled Bad Wolf on the situation wouldn't help things, and the way the power felt, roiling wild and untamed in that corner of her mind, it would be completely beyond her control. Even the small thing she had tried on that perception filter had gotten away from her. That was probably how he had been taken in the first place.

Picking up the scanner again, and keeping a strong chokehold on her emotions, Rose tried using a different algorithm for the scan.

Setting the scanner down, and refusing to look at it while it did its work, she waited for the results. It had been some time since she had been far enough in the past on earth to require different clothing, and she noted that the one woman who did walk by leading a child by the hand hurried past her, apparently the lack of corset was noticeable.

There was a low beep from the scanner and she held it in her hand again to look at the readout. Sontaran tech, less than a mile away. There wasn't a lot of detail, and she wasn't happy about the fact that it didn't seem to really make sense. Sontarans didn't attack like this, making off with the Doctor that way seemed extremely underhanded for them.

Still… Facts didn't lie, there was tech and she would check it out.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note- My husband convinced me that it was only fair to post a second chapter this week after neglecting the story the way I did. So this is a second chapter.**

**Thank you for reading, and yeah, I still don't own anything.**

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><p>The Doctor watched as Rose came into the room wielding a blaster and he frowned. He wasn't a fan of guns, and she knew that. He had to smile slightly at her muttering to herself as she searched the room. Her frustration with the sonic scanner was obvious as she rapped it lightly against the table before shaking her head and leaving the room.<p>

He waited then, not that there was anything else he could do. There was no way to activate the transport from this side; he would have to wait until she figured it out.

It was interesting how confident he felt that she would be able to do so, even in the relatively short time they had been traveling together his trust in her had grown. It was almost enough to make him more suspicious, but every time he worried that it might be some trick or manipulation she would look at him with that tongue touched grin and he would feel all of that fade away.

"Rose." He said the name, and it echoed hollowly through the chamber he was in. He thought about that name, something about it did seem important. He supposed that it might be more memories of her that had been hidden away from him until it was safe, she had mentioned running across more than one version of him in her travels.

He wondered if it was somewhat barmy to be jealous of the future incarnation of himself that would get to have her with him properly. He also wondered again how much he might be risking by having her with him now.

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><p>Rose had circled the block the signal was coming from and determined that it was coming from a specific house. It didn't make sense though… She had seen a young human woman leave and come back and Sontarans working with humans was as rare as a Sontaran being subtle.<p>

It was late afternoon and she was standing in an alley down the block from the house when she heard a hissing sound behind her. Rose went completely still and kept her hands out at her sides as she turned slowly to face the area it had come from.

There was a hooded figure standing there, too tall to be a Sontaran and as the figure stepped closer she realized that it was a woman.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, Rose took a couple of steps farther away as her hand hovered over her blaster. "I'm so sorry… Am I trespassing? I didn't realize. I was just resting here a moment." She smiled in what she hoped was a disarming manner and took another sideways step towards the mouth of the alley.

The hooded woman moved with her, and Rose got the sense of barely contained violence from the other woman's movements. There was that same hissing quality to the voice as she asked in a low and menacing voice, "By circling my house three times? That hardly sounds restful to me my dear."

Rose inclined her head slightly, "You may have a point…" She held up the scanner and kept her other hand empty, "I just lost my friend, I thought he might be around here somewhere. I could be wrong though."

"Your friend? Why would he be in my home?" The woman didn't react to the scanner, and Rose was disappointed. She had hoped to get some kind of idea of the woman's level of knowledge or freak her out with the technology.

She shrugged and deactivated the scanner; the woman's lack of reaction could be interpreted as familiarity and Rose decided to try that tack, "Well, I scanned for anachronistic tech and your place there lit up like a Christmas tree. Don't suppose you've seen a bloke in a… Well his outfit –would- fit in for once I guess… Green jacket… Longish hair… Bit of a talker… Goes by the 'Doctor' instead of a proper name?"

There was a long moment of silence when the woman shot a tongue out at Rose, leaving her to think for the briefest moment, 'Oh, Silariun!' before she dropped to the ground unconscious.

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><p>Rose came to and shifted slightly against her bonds, considering the fact that she had been kidnapped more times since she got back to her own universe than had ever happened in all that time the Doctor had been going on about how jeopardy friendly she was.<p>

There were voices arguing, and she struggled to make out exactly what they were saying. There was that Sontaran her scanner had picked up, and he seemed quite set on disintegrating 'the boy'. The low voice from the alley had lost its hissing quality, and was arguing that the Doctor had been mentioned. A third voice, also female, suggested that they call him.

"No!" Rose coughed as the word rasped over her dry throat, "Sorry, no. Please, paradox and all that. This is an earlier Doctor than the one you know."

The woman from the alley came closer and stood in front of her, her arm resting casually on the hilt of a sword at her waist. "And how exactly would you have come by that information?"

Rose looked from her to the Sontaran and then to the human girl, her eyes went back to the Silurian woman in front of her. "Are you Vastra?" At the other woman's sharp inhalation Rose shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to cause alarm, I just remember him mentioning you."

Vastra tightened her grip on the sword and stepped sideways, "If the Doctor you travel with is earlier than the one I am familiar with, how would you know of me?"

"Well… That's a little bit complicated." Rose looked between the three of them again before her eyes settled on Vastra. "Honestly, I'm not sure which Doctor you know, I don't know if he's regenerated or not since I knew him… But this is the Doctor like two regenerations earlier than you met… So…"

"The boy is lying! Let me disintegrate him!" The Sontaran came closer menacingly and Rose watched warily, trying to decide if he would actually try to kill her. It wouldn't stick of course, but it would be damn inconvenient considering she had yet to figure out where the Doctor was being held.

"Calm down Strax." The human girl came closer with a drink for the Silurian woman, "And that's certainly not a boy."

Sitting gingerly in a chair across from Rose, Vastra took a sip of what looked like wine and set the glass on a side table. She looked at Rose steadily for a long moment then asked, "What is your name girl?"

Rose shifted nervously, "Actually… I can't tell you."

Vastra lifted her brows, "You do understand the situation? If you are lying, we are well equipped to deal with you."

"Yeah, I get that." Rose shrugged helplessly. "Still can't tell you my name, wrong words in the wrong time can change an entire causal nexus. You know as much as you seem to, then you know that would be a bad thing." She paused then decided to go ahead and push her luck, "It would also be a good thing if you didn't mention me to the Doctor you know… I get it if you don't trust me, just let me go and I will figure out how to rescue my Doctor and we will be on our way."

Strax started to speak, likely to suggest another way of killing her when Vastra lifted a hand, "I would like a moment alone with our guest." She looked up at the human girl, "Jenny my dear, perhaps tea would be in order?"

Jenny nodded, "Of course." She turned to leave the room, ushering a still muttering Strax out in front of her.

There was a long moment of silence before Vastra spoke again, she held up the scanner as she looked at Rose curiously, "This scanner is quite rudimentary."

Rose nodded, "Yeah I know, but it's what I have."

Vastra inclined her head in understanding and removed a device from a drawer in the side table. Rose recognized it as a much better scanner than hers, Vastra looked down at it for a moment before waving it in front of Rose, "This one, that I scanned you with while you were unconscious is much more reliable." She set the scanner down next to Rose's and picked up her glass again, she leaned back in the chair with the glass cradled in her hand and looked at Rose thoughtfully.

Looking at the liquid in the glass, Rose decided that it probably wasn't wine. She moved her gaze to the scanner and asked with a raised eyebrow, "I guess you found something interesting then?"

"You could say that." Vastra leaned forward and looked at Rose piercingly, "If you are such a friend of the Doctor, where were you for the battle of Demons Run?"

"Demons Run?" Rose shifted in her seat again, she knew what the battle of Demons Run was, after all she had been trying to find her things by looking for artifacts from it for weeks before she had run across the Doctor. She thought back to what she knew about the woman sitting in front of her, she remembered the Doctor mentioning her intelligence, and for him to be as impressed as he was she had to be more than brilliant. "Maybe it just hasn't happened for me yet. Since I am traveling a bit out of my time stream."

"No… I believe you were there." Vastra took a drink then set her glass aside and smiled slightly at Rose, "You just weren't in the battle. You were the other captive."

Rose sighed and pulled at her wrist restraints, "The Doctor doesn't know, right?" At Vastra's silence Rose leaned forward with an urgent look on her face, "You can't tell him about me, really. It isn't time yet."

"He has a right to know, and in his current state the knowledge of your presence here could be what pulls him from his apathy."

"Or it could make it worse. I can't explain exactly, but there are complicated circumstances, he cannot know." She frowned and inhaled suddenly in a small gasp, "He's here isn't he? He's in London? Oh that's really really not good. You have to let me go, even if you can't help me find my Doctor, you have to let me go before he knows that we're here. Please."

Jenny came back in with a tea tray and at Vastra's nod, she deactivated Rose's wrist restraints. She poured the tea then sat down with them, "So are we calling the Doctor then maam?"

Vastra shook her head, "Not today I think." She sighed as she looked at Rose, "We will help you find your Doctor, and for now we will remain silent about your presence here."

Rose took her cup of tea from Jenny with a murmur of thanks and took a sip before responding to Vastra's statement. "Thank you, truly." She looked down at her dress and smiled ruefully, "I don't suppose there's any chance that you have some clothes I could borrow that don't involve corsets and petticoats?"

The smile on Jenny's face made her almost nervous that she had asked.


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note- Ok, been a couple of weeks. No real excuse, just crazy life. Thank you so much for reading and for the favorites and alerts, and thank you so much to those who take the time to let me know what you're thinking so far. **

**To answer a question from the reviews, with Vastra's extensive knowledge of Time Lords, including regeneration, in my head I always pictured her meeting an earlier incarnation. Always kinda saw that as Ten. Since the show never explicitly said which Doctor she met, I kinda went with that. Sorry if that doesn't jive with anyone's feelings on the matter.**

**Also, I still have a good 20000 words ahead of where I have posted waiting to upload. I am writing a little slower now though because I have reached a point where I am rewriting episodes. I don't really enjoy that, and I don't think I do it very well. So sorry in advance when the story reaches that point, but the story will continue and I will finish it. Nothing worse than being left hanging in an unfinished story, so no worries, I won't be doing that. Even though my slowness might be worrisome.**

**I own very little. Least of all Doctor Who. **

**Enjoy**

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><p>The Doctor sat up straighter as he heard voices coming towards the restoration room. It had been a few hours since the workers left for the day, and the voices were female so he thought this might be what he was waiting for.<p>

A female voice he didn't recognize was saying as she came into earshot, "Curious that there is a path directly to the museum, and it certainly doesn't look new."

He smiled as Rose's voice was the next he heard, "No, it doesn't. Something has been using the museum as a base of operations for a while." They had come inside and he lifted his eyebrows at what Rose was wearing. It was a skintight black catsuit with knee-high boots and what looked like light armor over her torso. She led the other woman into the room and they stopped by the table as Rose set the bag she had been carrying down on top of it and she started pulling things from it.

The other woman paced the perimeter of the room before turning back to Rose, in that moment her hood fell back and he realized with a start that she was a Silurian. "Now, what exactly will this device you are building do?"

Rose looked up from the components she had removed from the bag and smiled, "Well, since you have been kind enough to appropriate this for me." She held up what looked like a sonic screwdriver, but a different model from his. It glowed green on the end, and extended when she activated it. She tossed it in the air and caught it, "I have missed having one of these. Too bad I'll have to give it back." She pulled a couple of the pieces together and ran the sonic as she went on, "Anyway, with the lack of information coming from the scanner, a look at what happened will help. With this machine, I should be able to recreate everything that happened in this room in the last 24 hours or so."

"That is fascinating, I'm not sure I have seen that type of technology before." The woman watched Rose work for another moment before speaking again, "He will notice that the screwdriver is missing."

"I know." Rose looked up and smiled, "Don't worry. Jenny told me where the TARDIS is parked, I'll take care of it."

"Without him realizing that it's you?" At Rose's nod the Silurian crossed her arms over her chest and went on, "I still do not understand why he cannot know of your presence here. You should see him, he has lost his passion for life and mystery, surely finding a loved one from his past would help heal the wounds of the loss he is currently suffering."

Shaking her head emphatically, Rose answered without looking up. "No. It really wouldn't." She glanced up at the other woman, "I know what he is like after he's lost people, and what he needs is your continued support, maybe a new mystery. I am –not- the mystery he needs right now. I would only make it worse."

"I fail to understand why that would be. If you could only see him, see how he is suffering…" She seemed to be gearing up for a long argument when Rose interrupted her in a sharp voice.

"He saw me die, Vastra!" She set the screwdriver down and pinched the bridge of her nose, "He saw me die! And not just die, he got me back briefly then saw me erased from existence."

"But… You mean… The cracks?" The woman sat in a chair and shook her head, "And that hasn't happened yet to you?"

Rose set her hands on the table and shook her head, "No. I learned it from Amy, she didn't even know she remembered it. We shared a dreamstate though, in captivity. And she realized what she knew. It is all horribly complicated and confusing… But apparently I see him a few more times then I die." She sighed and stood up straight, "And do you know what is dangerous about a Doctor who has recently suffered major loss?"

The woman Rose had called Vastra let out a long breath, "He becomes more reckless than usual. You're worried that if he sees that it hasn't happened yet in your timeline he might try to change it." At Rose's answering nod, Vastra pursed her lips thoughtfully, "Why not though? Time travel can do miraculous things, do you not wish to be saved?"

"It's a fixed point Vastra. A big one." Rose picked the screwdriver up and went back to work on the device, in a low voice she continued, "I have already risked too much, been stupid and selfish. Do you realize how dangerous this is right now? Two Doctors in the same place as someone like me, all out of the time we should be in? I'm surprised there aren't reapers flying about London like mad as we speak."

"Then why did you risk it?" Vastra had come forward to the table and was idly turning one of the components around in her hands.

Rose's voice as she answered was almost too low for him to make out, "Just to be with him. For a little while." She sighed and paused in her work again, "I am fully aware of how stupid I've been, believe me. It's just… I know I don't have much time left, and it had been so long… I just wanted to be happy for a few weeks."

"Happiness would be quite tempting after the things I saw in that computer log." Vastra set the piece down and rested her hand on Rose's shoulder for a moment before moving away.

The sound of the screwdriver was the only noise in the room for some time and the Doctor contemplated the things he had overheard.

He had known that Rose wasn't coming from a good place, and he had known by her secretiveness that there was more to it than simple concerns about foreknowledge. This was more than he had expected though, and he wondered again at her relationship with his future self for a few moments of his company to be worth going willingly to her death.

It was both humbling and horrifying the effect he had on the people he came across, and he wondered at the cruelty of the universe that it always seemed to end that way.

One more trip, he decided. He would take her on one more trip before she left him. It would be something peaceful and lovely, considering she only had a few weeks left. He would also respect her wishes, and not let on that he knew what was coming for her. He pitied his future self when the knowledge became available to him.

The Doctor was drawn from his thoughts by Rose's voice as she exclaimed that she was done. He watched in fascination as the device she had built out of spare bits worked and the room was filled with the shadows of the day's workers.

As the images seemed to rewind through their actions it drew closer and closer to the time he had been caught and there it was. He was a bit embarrassed to see it show him trip and fall into the mirror; he almost wished there had been foul play.

Rose looked a little bemused as she approached the mirror slowly. He heard her murmur to Vastra that there must be controls somewhere on it then she pointed the screwdriver at it and the mirror reversed its action and he tumbled out.

With a somewhat embarrassed smile the Doctor stood and brushed his coat off before saying, "Well, that was a little bit… Well."

Grinning at him, Rose shook her head. "Blimey, you had me worried." She gestured to the other woman and introduced her, "This is Madame Vastra."

They exchanged greetings and the Doctor agreed when Vastra suggested that she and her team be the ones to investigate the reason for the tunnel's existence. He cleared his throat as he suggested that he head back to the TARDIS to check on something and nodded absently when Rose said she would be along shortly.

Overall he thought he had managed rather well at not letting on that he knew anything. He headed back to the TARDIS to plan their next destination as he waited for her to join him. He also thought he might see how the TARDIS felt about making another sonic screwdriver.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note- Here's another chapter to make up for the wait since my last update. And it's nice and long hopefully to make up for the fact I will likely be another couple of weeks between updates.**

**Thanks for reading, I don't own this sandbox, just playing in it.**

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><p>Rose smiled to herself as she thought of the embarrassed look on the Doctor's face over having fallen into the stasis field. Vastra had had her man Strax transport the mirror to her house for safekeeping and they had parted ways amicably.<p>

Jenny's directions on how to find the TARDIS took her to the base of a tree in a gated park and she was glad it was night as she looked around to make sure she was alone.

She had to jump several times before she managed to catch the bottom rung of the ladder and smiled in satisfaction as she pulled it down and climbed up. Thank heavens she wasn't wearing that dratted corset anymore, although she supposed her current outfit would cause quite a commotion if she was seen.

It was lovely as she climbed up and up the spiral staircase and she thought it sad that even in his current state of melancholy and complete lack of interest in anyone around him, everything about the Doctor still shone with beauty and excitement.

Rose slowed as she approached the top and crept silently up the stairs, hoping he wouldn't be about to pop out for tea or something. As she walked through the mist and ran her hand slowly along the outside of the TARDIS she smiled at the welcoming warmth that stole across her mind.

She moved to the door and frowned a bit, worried about not having her key. Her worries were misplaced however as the door popped gently open and Rose poked her head inside cautiously.

The console room was empty, and she took a moment to drink in the sight of it, mentally complimenting the appearance. She had never seen this design before, and as usual it was absolutely perfect.

Taking the screwdriver from her pocket, Rose approached the controls and knelt down, setting the device right against the base of the console. She stood and started to leave when she saw something that made her frown.

It was a book she recognized, a signed copy of 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen. She had pestered old big ears and leather for ages to get him to make such a fluffy trip for her, he had complained less when she made the mistake of rescuing her father.

She smiled as she remembered his grousing and the fact that he had done it anyway, even seeming to enjoy himself by the end as he flirted with the author and Rose had gotten huffy. She had been a silly teenager, jealous of his attention and having absolutely no idea that she was in love with him. She shook her head and touched the cover of the book before opening it and pulling a pen out of her pocket.

Before she could change her mind, and realize how stupid this was, she flipped to the back cover and wrote inside, 'I know you hate endings, but I told you so. Love Rose'. She carefully set the book back where it had been cast aside and left the TARDIS.

It was time to go back and tell the other Doctor that she had to leave.

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><p>Rose frowned at the envelope in her hand. It had been handed to her by someone she didn't recognize and who had promptly disappeared.<p>

It seemed to be an invitation, it had a date, a time and coordinates. She put it in her pocket and shook her head. She wasn't really sure what it meant and she was concerned at the worry it caused in the pit of her stomach.

The Doctor had said he needed to stop off in Cardiff to fuel and she had declined joining him. She was worried she might run into Jack and she wanted to see him on her own instead. They were planning to take one last trip, he had mentioned Barcelona and that had made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

She had had the Doctor set her off in a random city in England and set about doing a little shopping. She was standing at a make up counter when a curious feeling swept over her. She turned around and he was there, staring at her with a disbelieving look on his face. There was only the smallest instant where she remained unsure of who he was, then she met his eyes and it was there.

This Doctor seemed younger than the mad man in pinstripes she had traveled with, but he still had old eyes. The Doctor's eyes. She smiled at him as he took a couple of halting steps towards her, then she moved to meet him and they caught each other in a tight and desperate hug.

His hands came up to cradle her face and he pulled her back to look at her, his eyes seeming to take in every detail before he closed them and pulled her against him again.

She realized that she was crying as he said her name over and over in a low voice before he pulled back again to look at her, as though he was afraid something might change. "Rose… How… I saw you, well… How are you here?" He looked around then, and asked in a strained voice, "Are you alone?"

Rose kept a wince from her face as she realized that he had been about to admit that he saw her die. Instead she smiled at him and reached up to take his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. "It's sort of complicated actually, it was a bit of an accident, but I'm ok." Then she smiled at his question, "I'm here alone for the moment. Meeting someone later though."

He nodded as he gripped her hand like he thought she would disappear. She thought it was almost funny when he didn't press her for answers, almost like he was afraid to. "Well, however it might have happened, it is… Rose Tyler… It is so good to see you."

"What are you doing in Colchester Doctor? Not that I'm not thrilled," She bumped him with her shoulder as she walked beside him towards the doors of the shop, their hands still linked so tightly it was almost painful. "But it seems like an extremely odd place to run across you."

"Ah, yes." He frowned then, his free hand moving up to fidget with his bowtie. "I am actually on my way to clean my friend Craig's house."

She stopped and looked at him oddly, "I'm sorry, did you say you are going to go clean a house?"

"Yes, he helped me sort out an issue with some cybermen, seems only right. I did help him make rather a mess of it." He smiled sideways at her, "You know you could always come watch, since it seems so unbelievable to you."

Rose brought up her free hand to grip his arm and nodded out the door, "Lead on, this I have –got- to see."

They chattered about purposefully meaningless things as they made their way to Craig's house and she grinned in approval at the console room, making him puff out his chest like he had been the one to design it. He found that her help was invaluable as they tidied Craig's house, as he realized that he really had no idea where to even start with cleaning and such.

He made her promise to wait as he said goodbye to Craig, then he rushed back to the console room as though he was worried she would have disappeared again.

The Doctor slowed as he entered the room and saw her bouncing the basketball while she waited for him.

She looked over her shoulder as he entered and smiled widely. "Never pictured you being big on basketball." She tossed the ball at him and he caught it awkwardly.

Coming farther into the room, he set the ball down on the jumpseat and twitched his lips in a smile, "I'm really not, but it's fun to have around." He kept looking at her like he couldn't believe his eyes.

Rose climbed the stairs and stood next to him at the console, bumping her shoulder against his. "Are you all right Doctor?"

He turned to face her and took her hand in his, keeping his eyes on it as he ran his thumb up and down her wrist. "Of course I'm all right. I'm always all right."

"Liar." The accusation held no heat as she smiled and leaned into him, "So… Where are your companions?"

The Doctor frowned at her question, "How do you know it's plural?"

Lifting an eyebrow Rose deliberated internally over how forthcoming she should be, "I think you already know that I've met Amy."

"Ah yes…" He kept her hand in his and wrapped his free arm around her waist, tucking her head under his chin, "I'm sorry Rose. I can't even begin to imagine how they found you, and I am so sorry."

"Well it wasn't your fault you git." She smiled against his chest and closed her eyes, "You need to stop taking on the blame for everything bad that happens in the multiverse. It's not healthy." She sighed then stepped back and looked at his face, noting the worry that was still etched on it, "You need to tell me what's wrong Doctor."

He let go of her hand and linked his arms around her waist, keeping her from pulling too far away. He stared at her like he still couldn't quite believe that she was there. "Oh, Rose Tyler… Let's not talk about that." At her determined look he let out a long breath and let go of her to drop into one of the jumpseats heavily. There was a long moment of silence before he finally spoke in a low voice, "I'm going to die tomorrow Rose."

"Sorry, come again?" Rose shook her head, "No, you don't die tomorrow Doctor." She crossed her arms over her chest, her face almost angry, "Why would you even think that?"

"Rose, I do. It's not just something I'm saying." At her mutinous expression he shook his head, "It's a fixed point Rose."

"What so you're just accepting that? Who the hell told you it was a bloody fixed point? You don't just go DIE because someone tells you to." The fear and anger that had suffused through her at his statement had her completely missing the fact that she was doing the same thing.

"I'm a Time Lord Rose. I know what I'm talking about." She looked like she was gearing up for a serious argument and he was struck by how much she reminded him of Jackie. He was however smart enough not to say that this time around, "Rose, please. I'm going to die tomorrow, I have run from this for so long and there's just no way… Don't make me argue with you when the universe has actually been kind enough to give me one last chance to see you before I go."

The exhaustion and desperation in his voice was enough to bring her up silent. Rose looked away from him for a moment, her eyebrows drawn down in consternation. She lifted a hand to her eyes and held it there before shaking her head and dropping it. "You're right, I'm sorry." She paused briefly then said, "Just let me say one more thing, then I promise I'll drop it… You have to fight Doctor. Walking willingly to your death is not what any of us, the people who have been willing to die for you; it's not what any of us would want. You have to fight. Figure something out. You can't just die…" She trailed off and turned to lean her back against the console and ask tiredly, "You know that don't you? Doctor?"

The Doctor shrugged tiredly and smiled slightly. "I've run Rose. I have tried and I have lost… I just… I don't know." He looked at her, with the smile disappearing, "I'm tired Rose… I'm tired of running."

Rose stepped over to him and ruffled his hair with her fingers. "I'm sorry." She dropped her free hand into her pocket and fingered the edge of the blue envelope. She wondered if she should ask about it. With a sigh she decided to leave it alone for now. She glanced at her watch and sat down beside him, reaching to take his hand. "How 'bout a cuppa? I have a bit of time before I need to be somewhere."

"Rose, this is a time machine." He smiled slightly, the statement not really carrying the usual gusto it did when he said it. He stood and tugged her to her feet, "A cuppa sounds lovely though." When she was standing he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her tightly, breathing deeply as he pressed his face to her hair, enjoying the smell of her, something he had thought he would never experience again. He realized after a moment that her breath was hitching as she cried silently and he pulled back to look at her. "Hey, hey. Don't cry."

She chewed on her lip and shook her head, "Sorry… It's just… I'm sorry."

He wiped the tears away from her cheeks, shushing her quietly. Acting on impulse he leaned down and kissed her eyes, "Don't cry, I hate seeing you cry Rose Tyler." She smiled then, her eyes still shiny with tears and he stared into them for a long moment before deciding to throw caution to the wind. He acted before he had time to talk himself out of it, before he had time to remind himself of all the distance he was supposed to keep between the two of them. He pressed his lips against hers, feeling her still against him for a moment and he could almost taste her shock before she reacted.

Rose lifted her arms, winding them around his neck and tangling her fingers through his hair as she let her lips part softly and feeling his elation as he took advantage of her reaction by deepening the kiss.

From that point both of them seemed to be trying to act as quickly as possible before they could stop to think about their actions. The Doctor had imagined what this would be like before, what it would finally mean to act on his feelings for Rose and take this step, and in his dreams it was slow and beautiful, not desperate and urgent.

Some time later they laid on the floor of the console room, their discarded clothing partially underneath them. Rose had her head on the Doctor's chest as he absently ran his fingers over her back, tracing symbols she didn't understand.

She saw something then, sticking out of one of his pockets and she reached for it, pulling out a familiar blue envelope. She looked at him curiously then sat up and found the matching one she had been given. "What is this then?" She looked at him and couldn't resist smiling at the picture he made, his hair sticking out in several different directions.

The Doctor took the envelope from her and tapped it against his hand, trying hard not to stare at her chest as she sat there stark naked and having a conversation. "Well, this… It's going to be an invitation." At her raised eyebrow he went on in a quieter voice, sitting up as he spoke, "An invitation to the last great adventure. You got one?"

Rose nodded and ran her fingers over the envelope still in her hand; she felt the sting of impending tears again and blinked them back as she clenched her jaw. "Listen, I'm not going to lecture you anymore, I am just going to say… Don't give up. You can't just give up Doctor."

He sighed and lifted a hand to cup her cheek. "I promise to keep thinking on it." He returned her smile and leaned forward to kiss her lightly. "Will you come though? In case I can't… I know it's a lot to ask but will you come?"

"Like I have ever been capable of saying no to you." She frowned at his pained expression at her words but dismissed it as foreknowledge that she would be better off without. She sighed then and looked at her watch. "I am sorry Doctor… I have to go."

The Doctor stood as well and tried not to think of how awkward things had become as they sorted their clothes and pulled them on. He was holding out the long green jacket she had been wearing when he frowned, "Wait, I know this coat."

Rose snatched it from him quickly and shook her head, "No. You really don't."

He lifted an eyebrow as she shrugged into it and then he nodded, "All right. Perhaps I was mistaken then." He stepped forward then and wound her scarf back around her neck, absently thinking that the scarf looked vaguely familiar as well.

Fully dressed she stood there in front of him for a moment before muttering what sounded suspiciously like, "Bugger it all" and threw her arms around him again, kissing him deeply and desperately before pulling away and starting for the door.

"Good bye Rose Tyler."

She spun to look at him with a slight smile. "I'll see you later, my Doctor."


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading, and thanks for the follows and favorites, and obviously thanks so much to the people who take the time to review. Always awesome to get those email alerts. **

**Hope people continue to enjoy the story, and thanks again for taking the time to read it.**

**On a side note, I do have more Rose and 8 adventures written, but ended up cutting them from this story since I felt that they were sort of bogging down the narrative. They didn't fit the main gist of this story, I am considering cleaning them up and posting them as a separate story, or as some sort of outtakes kinda thing. I would be interested in knowing which of those people would be more inclined to reading. Whole new story with 8 and Rose adventures that goes all AU or outtakes of this story? **

**I don't own Doctor Who, but I -did- just buy the card game and some cookie cutters. Can't wait to have a dalek shaped cookie with edible ball bearings. :D Wish I could share those with the people who review.**

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><p>Rose and the Doctor went to Barcelona, the planet not the city and he had seemed to sense in some way how it made her feel to be there. They had held hands as they rang in the new year with the locals and he kissed her lightly before nodding when she cried and pulled away from him.<p>

He smiled at her as she wiped away her tears and took off her scarf, tossing it around his neck and using it to pull him in for another kiss before she stepped back and spoke so softly, he almost didn't hear her. "I'm sorry. For what's coming." She smiled at him, "Just remember that you're always my Doctor."

It was time for her to go. She felt it deep inside that part of herself that knew these things. She looked down at her vortex manipulator then entered the coordinates she had decided on.

She decided it was time to answer her summons from the Doctor, and then it was past time that she went and saw Jack.

The Doctor watched as she winked out of existence and sighed. He had known she couldn't stay; their time together was always meant to be limited.

As he made his way back to the TARDIS, he fingered the scarf before wrapping it more securely around his neck. It smelled of her, and that made him happy.

The memories were already beginning to fade as he set the TARDIS drifting into the vortex, he knew they would be completely gone before long and as he walked to the library, he wondered again what the future would bring. Her words before she left… What had she said? She had said she was sorry, and he knew it wasn't for something she had done.

Something was coming.

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><p>The dark was almost oppressive as she arrived in an alley in Cardiff. It was a beautiful night though, and the air smelled of rain in a way that made her smile. She walked from the alley and towards the courtyard that was the home of the Torchwood base here.<p>

She knew it might be a while before Jack noticed her out here on the surveillance cameras, and she was prepared to wait. She hadn't expected the sudden force of someone running into her and yanking her off of her feet in a sweeping hug then kissing her soundly.

Jack grinned at her, happy he had managed to catch her by surprise, which he definitely had if the slightly poleaxed expression on her face was anything to go by. He tilted his head to the side then and looked at her closely. "What a minute… Your eyes… How long has it been since I've seen you?"

Rose smiled at him, her heart calming down from the shock of his greeting. "Too long, captain Jack." She looked past him to the man who had just caught up to Jack, looking slightly confused, "Hi there. I'm Rose."

"This is Ianto." Jack gestured between the two of them, "Ianto, Rose. Rose, Ianto." He smiled then as he hooked his arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the pub a few doors down. "I think a drink is in order, then you can tell me what you're doing here on your own."

"Ah, yes. I do believe I owe you a pint and an explanation." She smiled up at him as he stopped and looked down at her strangely.

He looked at her arm, seeing the vortex manipulator and he dropped his hand to her coat, reaching into her pocket and removing a familiar blaster. "How the hell…"

Rose grinned, and felt a little bad for Ianto, who was standing there looking more and more confused by the moment. "First, a drink. You have no idea how badly I need to be drunk right now."

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><p>Rose stifled a giggle, lifting a hand to press it against her mouth. This was no time for laughter, as the footsteps outside got closer.<p>

She should never have let Jack talk her into this; they both knew how stupid it was to treat time travel lightly. Even when she could access Bad Wolf without the power getting all wonky, it was still a risk. Even with the time sense, she was not a Time Lord.

What it came down to really, was not that listening to Jack was entirely bad… But that drunk Rose listening to drunk Jack was disastrous.

First she had gone with him to a 30th century bar, where both of them decided to test the limits of the durability Bad Wolf had bestowed on them. Rose had lost most of her clothes in a game that she thought at first was poker, then Jack had managed to procure her a long white skirt and shirt from who new where. Then he had suggested that they take their last bottle to go and head for a party he had heard of that should be fantastic.

They had expected to attend the coronation of the 113 emperor of The Holy Nation of Blek. A name that had had Rose giggling incoherently as Jack insisted that was what it was called. Considering the state of her as she entered the coordinates, it was no wonder really that they had ended up not only on the wrong planet, but also several hundred years from the intended time.

While that might have been dealt with pretty well in most circumstances, neither of them had anticipated ending up in England. Where an angry queen Victoria recognized Rose and sent her guard after the two of them, likely for an execution.

Rose felt Jack literally shaking with laughter against her back, and she lifted her leg to kick at him absently as the sounds of the guards got closer. His arms wrapped around her waist and tightened as the door opened, she engaged the vortex manipulator and smiled cheekily at the shocked guards as they disappeared.

Jack and Rose stumbled to the ground in a tangled heap as they settled from the teleport. Rose propped herself up on her elbows and blew her hair out of her eyes as she looked around. They had landed in a dim room, flickering lights and lots of dust. There were plants, lots of them, and they seemed to have been left to run wild.

She sniffed then and frowned. "Smells like… Feet." She looked down at Jack and grinned, "More specifically, your feet after a day of running."

Tilting his head to see what Rose saw, albeit upside down, Jack frowned. "Are you saying my feet stink?"

"Yup." Rose drew out the word and popped the p at the end in a way that reminded them both of the Doctor, and then she stood carefully and held out a hand to help him up.

They stood there for a moment before Rose pointed in a random direction and they walked off. She had pulled out her sonic screwdriver, a smile on her face at the very fact that she had one again.

They entered a cavernous chamber with brighter lights and both of them came to a stop as they realized that they weren't alone.

Jack regained his voice first as he said, "Is that… Are those… Dinosaurs?"

"I think so, yeah." Rose swallowed and reached over to grip his hand, she had a wide smile on her face as she said, "Run?"

As they ran, skirting the edge of the room, the dinosaurs gave chase. They got to a set of doors and Rose pulled them to a stop, pointing her screwdriver at the control panel.

Jack kept up a covering fire, being careful not to actually –hit- the dinosaurs as she worked at the door controls. "Any time now Rosie!"

"I'm working on it Jack!" The doors opened and Rose stopped to look at them for a moment, grinning before Jack ran by, scooping her up and tossing her over his shoulder.

Rose had a close up view of their pursuing dinosaurs as they ran through the doors and heard a familiar voice yell, "Run!" Then there was a pause and the same voice said, "What?"

As Jack ran past the Doctor and his gang of people, Rose grinned and waved, "Hello!"


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: Yay! Today's a twofer! **

**My state of ownage hasn't changed in the last ten minutes.**

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><p>The Doctor stood there dumbfounded as Jack Harkness ran by him carrying Rose Tyler over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He heard the stomping of the dinosaurs and shook his head as his gang ran by him with varying degrees of panic. He couldn't help the manic grin that spread across his face as he looked over at Amy.<p>

Amy was pulling on his arm, "Doctor!"

His grin widened as he answered, "I know! Dinosaurs! On a spaceship!" He went along as she pulled him after the others and they followed as Nefertiti led them into an alcove to hide from the creatures.

There was no sign of Jack and Rose, and the Doctor spent a brief second hoping he hadn't imagined them when he noticed Riddell brandishing a knife, "No! We just found dinosaurs in space. We need to preserve them."

Riddell looked over his shoulder doubtfully, "Then who's going to preserve us?"

Amy shushed them as the dinosaurs got closer and they all fell silent as the beasts ran past them to

gallop farther down the corridor.

They all stood there for a moment when there was a slight crash and the Doctor looked around the corner to see Rose and Jack had fallen over a bush into a pile of jumbled bits and bobs from the spaceship.

He strode to them quickly and pulled Rose to her feet, ignoring the American completely in favor of looking at her carefully.

She smiled at him goofily and then gasped, "Wait! This is an older you!" She jumped up and down and almost fell again before he caught her and she threw her arms around him, kissing him aggressively. She pulled back and hung onto his jacket as she continued to smile, "I told you you'd figure it out you daft old alien."

The Doctor smiled down at her, able to feel the flush in his cheeks from his reaction to her kissing him, her words finally sank in and he sobered. "Well, I had a lot of encouragement." He licked his lips then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Rose Tyler, are you drunk?"

Jack had managed to stand and gripped Rose's arm for support as he reached a hand out to pat the Doctor on the shoulder. "I believe at this point Doc, somewhat inebriated would be more accurate. Adrenaline you know." He glanced at the rest of the group, smiling widely. "Hello there. Captain Jack Harkness."

"Not now Jack." Looking between the two of them the Doctor's eyebrows drew downward, "Well captain cheesecake. Not really a surprise then. I remember the first time the two of you got into the hypervodka."

Amy's voice rang out, "Gonna introduce us then Doctor?" She was frowning at the Doctor standing there snogging some blonde. As she got closer though, she stumbled to a stop. "You!"

Rose looked over the Doctor's shoulder and smiled as she saw Amy, only weaving a little as she made her way over and the two women hugged. "Amy!" She pulled back and patted her shoulder a couple of times before stepping back and hitting the Doctor who had followed her over. She glanced up at him then back to Amy, still smiling at her, "I'm so happy you're here and all right! Rory too!" She waved at him, "Hello!"

Rory waved back, smiling uncertainly. Then he remembered. He had definitely seen this woman before, in Utah. That seemed like a million years ago now. He looked over at the Doctor and cleared his throat. "So. Dinosaurs on a spaceship!"

The group of them started down the corridor again, the Doctor keeping Rose's hand tightly in his as they headed for some kind of computer access point.

Brian Williams spoke up, "Sorry, sorry. Are you saying dinosaurs are flying a spaceship?"

The Doctor shook his head as he answered briskly, "Brian please, that would be ridiculous. They're probably just passengers." He noticed Rose mouthing the word 'rude' at him and decided to change the subject, "Did I mention missiles?"

"Missiles?" Brian's voice had gotten higher as he questioned that rather alarming statement.

Nodding slowly as he approached a computer, the Doctor answered him, "Didn't want to worry you. Anyway, six hours is a lifetime. Not literally a lifetime. That's what we're trying to avoid. And we're all really clever." He smiled as he got to the computer, "Ooo, let's see what we can find out. Come on."

Amy ran her fingers along some gouges in the walls and glanced over at the Doctor, "How many dinosaurs do you think are on here?"

The Doctor looked at Rose curiously as she pointed her sonic at the computer and it winked to life. He filed that question away for later as the controls came up, "Oh, well done, whoever you are. Looking for engines. Thank you, computer." He eyed the read out then pointed at the display. "Look at that. Different sections have engines, but these look like the primary clusters. Where are we now, computer? We need to get down to these engines."

There was a flash of light as Rory, Rose, Brian and the Doctor were teleported from the room.

Jack rushed forward too late, "Rosie! Damnit!"

Nefertiti exclaimed, "What happened?"

Looking at the empty spot the others had disappeared from and then at the three strangers, Amy muttered, "Oh, great."

* * *

><p>The Doctor was finishing his statement, "Find out..." He stopped then and looked around curiously, "What?"<p>

Brian was staring out at the ocean, and his voice was disbelieving as he said, "We're outside. We're on a beach."

"Teleport." The Doctor made a face, "Oh, I hate teleports. Must have activated on my voice."

Rose looked at the older man with concern as the man muttered, "Ah, yes, well, thank you, Arthur C Clarke. Teleport, obviously. I mean, we're on a spaceship with dinosaurs. Why wouldn't there be a teleport? In fact, why don't we just teleport now?"

She quietly spoke to Rory, "Is he all right?"

Rory shook his head. "No. That's my dad. He hates travelling. Makes him really anxious. He only goes to the paper shop and golf."

The Doctor frowned over at him, "What did you bring him for?"

"I didn't!" Rory's voice was exasperated as he exclaimed, "Why can't you just phone ahead like any normal person?"

Brian seemed to snap out of it a little, "Somebody tell me where we are, now."

Sticking his tongue out and looking at the ground contemplatively before meeting Rose's eyes and seeing her lifted eyebrow. He remembered then the obsession his last self had had with licking things. He coughed slightly, "Well, it's not Earth. Doesn't taste right. Too metallic."

After watching the Doctor apparently taste the air, Brian seemed to be trying to find some sense of normalcy in the situation, he pointed at the sky. "Is that a kestrel?"

Rose squinted as she looked where Brian was pointing, "I sure do hope so."

Staring down at the ground beneath his feet, Rory said in an uncertain voice, "The beach is humming."

The Doctor looked down at his feet and tilted his head to the side, "Is it? Oh yes. Right, well, don't just stand there, you two. Dig." He grabbed Rose's hand and started pulling her towards the rock face, "We're going to look at rocks. Love a rock."

Rory looked after them as the Doctor pulled Rose towards the rocks, "Dig with what?" He looked over at his father as Brian pulled a collapsible trowel from his pocket and started to dig, "Wait, did you just have that on you?

Brian looked up at him in disbelief, "Of course. What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list."

"Dad, I'm thirty one. I don't have a Christmas list any more." Rory looked up after the Doctor as he stopped whatever conversation he had been having with Rose to call out the fact that he had a christmas list. He shook his head and was about to comment on that when he heard metallic tapping.

"There's a floor under this beach." Brian looked up as Rory ran off towards the other two.

"Doctor!"

* * *

><p>The Doctor had pulled Rose after him towards the Rocks and looked down at her, taking in for the first time what she was wearing. He felt his hearts constrict, but tried to hide it, "So. Drinking with Jack?"<p>

Rose looked up at him and wondered at his facial expression for a moment. It wasn't disapproval, she thought it might be fear and she wondered what it was about her clothing that frightened him. At his question she shrugged and reached for a loose thread on her shirt, twirling it around and around her finger. "Well, it seemed appropriate at the time. I –had- just watched you die." She grinned then and poked him in the shoulder, "I told you so Doctor! I told you you would figure something out."

"Well, your wish…" He trailed off as he answered her smile, then looked back at Rory and his dad and yelled, "I do!" At Rose's questioning look he said, "Have a Christmas list. Right now at the top of my list is... Look there!"

He moved past Rose to a computer panel and she shook her head and smiled as she leaned against the rocks while he worked. The smile widening to a grin at his excitement when he started to realize what this beach was, as Rory and Brian joined them.


End file.
